Horner addresses Lawson demotion in ‘cruel to be kind’ verdict

Although Christian Horner says it was “horrible” demoting Liam Lawson to Racing Bulls, Red Bull had to be “cruel to be kind” in light of the New Zealander’s early season struggles.

Red Bull announced in December that Lawson would be Max Verstappen’s F1 2025 team-mate, the 23-year-old promoted over Yuki Tsunoda despite having only 11 races under his belt split over two seasons.

Christian Horner: Sometimes you’ve got to be cruel to be kind

But after just two Grands Prix with Red Bull, Lawson has been demoted to Racing Bulls with Red Bull making the call to put Tsunoda in the RB21 as of the Japanese Grand Prix.

The decision was made after the 23-year-old’s early-season struggles saw him fail to make it out of Q1 in three attempts or score a single point.

But while Lawson would’ve liked Red Bull to take into consideration the power unit issue that cost him a practice session in Australia, that followed by a Sprint weekend in China with just one practice, both at tracks he had never raced, when he received the phone call from Horner, it was already a “done deal”.

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“Basically I had a phone call saying that this was what was going to happen,” he told the media in the build-up to the Japanese GP weekend. “I would say I was more surprised.

“Obviously it’s very early in the season. I was hoping to go to a track that I raced before and have a clean weekend, to have a chance like that. But, I mean, the decision, obviously, was made.”

And it’s a decision that Horner says was not pleasant to make, but one that he felt had to be made.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Horner said: “Of course, it’s horrible because you’re taking away someone’s dreams and aspirations, but sometimes you’ve got to be cruel to be kind, and I think that in this instance, this is not the end for Liam.

“I was very clear with him, is that it’s a sample of two races. I think that we’ve asked too much of you too soon. We have to accept; I think we were asking too much of him too soon.

“And so this is for him to, again, nurture that talent that we know that he has, back in the Racing Bulls seat, whilst giving Yuki the opportunity and looking to make use of the experience that he has.”

Asked what convinced to make the call so early in the season, the team principal reiterated concerns for Lawson’s mental wellbeing.

He said: “I think with everything that we saw in Australia and China, you could see that it was really affecting Liam quite badly.

“We could have left it, and I think that Liam is a driver with talent. Maybe within half a season he would have got there, but we just don’t have that amount of time.

“It was something that was very clear to the engineering side within the team, just how much Liam was struggling with it all, and you could see that weight upon his shoulders.

“The engineers were coming to me very concerned about it, and at the end of the day, I think it was the logical thing to do.”

As for whether he will ever get back into the cockpit of a Red Bull F1 car, Lawson concedes that’s not something he’s thinking about right now.

“I guess that’s part of the conversation,” he said. “I guess, in a way that’s great, but obviously I was already there starting the season, and was focused on proving myself in the team at that point.

“So look, whatever happens down the line is more or less out of my control. What I can control is the driving stuff to prove that. So where the future goes, honestly at this point, I’m not really thinking about too much.

“I think we know how Formula 1 is and how quickly things change. I mean, if I look back a year ago, I had no seat. I was here a year ago, watching and wishing I was racing, then I had the opportunity to race at the end of last year, and the opportunity then to go to Red Bull Racing. So a lot has happened in 12 months.

“So for me, the main thing is being in a car. I have the opportunity to obviously prove why I belong here, and that’s what I would try and do, and that’s what I do every single time I get single time I get in the car, and that’s what I’ll be doing this weekend.

“So I think things change very, very quickly. In terms of where my future is, I don’t know and for me, the only way I can control that is by driving fast.”

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