Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen called for action at Red Bull amid Liam Lawson’s demotion, exclaiming, “we got ourselves into this situation.”
Lawson joins the long list of drivers to suffer alongside Verstappen at Red Bull, and the New Zealander has been swapped with Yuki Tsunoda after just two races.
Like his predecessor, Sergio Perez, Lawson found it difficult to get the Red Bull into the optimal operating window, an issue the Mexican had been proclaiming affected him for months on end.
Unlike Perez, whose struggles at Red Bull grew across a three-year stint before he was dropped, Lawson lasted just two Grands Prix.
Given the severity of Lawson’s struggles, Verstappen was asked whether this is cause to reconsider Perez’s particular plight.
“I don’t think you need to have a look at anyone, to be honest,” the Dutchman told select media, including Motorsport Week, ahead of the Japanese GP.
“What has been done has been done. I think it’s more important that we take a good look at ourselves and just keep on working and keep on improving the car.
“I don’t care what anyone else thinks. Or poor Checo, or poor this, or poor that.
“At the end of the day, we got ourselves into this situation, so we just need to work on it.”
Fixing the car is Verstappen’s priority
Verstappen is dissatisfied with the overall lack of pace Red Bull has shown so far in the early stages of the 2025 campaign, despite lying second in the Drivers’ standings.
This is an issue he’d rather see fixed, rather than ensuring there are two elite-level drivers within the squad, which Verstappen feels only serves a top team.
“For me personally, as soon as you are the dominant team, the leading car, I think that is way more important,” he said of making sure a strong driver is in the second Red Bull seat.
“Anyway, because from there on, you can control the outcome instead of relying on other people’s outcome.
“That’s what we have to focus on, trying to get back up there.”
What is clear is how Verstappen was against swapping out Lawson so early, which feeds into the narrative that improving car performance is his priority aim.
After liking ex-F1 racer Giedo van der Garde’s Instagram post condemning the decision, Verstappen told media on Thursday, “Well, I liked the text, so I guess that speaks for itself, right?”
“My reaction was shared with the team, but in general, you know, about not only the swap, but about everything,” he added.
Another consistent narrative is that only Verstappen can tame a Red Bull, with it being considered unfair in hindsight to expect the relatively inexperienced Lawson to cope with the RB21.
Verstappen explained that for rookies, or drivers in Lawson’s unique situation, getting to grips with F1 at the start of the season is tough for several reasons.
“People always say that Liam did 11 races or something in total, but over a different period of time,” he said.
“And I think for rookies, always the beginning of the season, actually, you have the calendar nowadays. And that one is very tough, because most of these tracks, they haven’t really driven on or they mainly have a Sprint weekend.
“So all these scenarios, they don’t help.”
From his perspective, understanding whether he’s the only driver who can tame a Red Bull is tricky, given Verstappen’s experience outside of the Milton Keynes-based squad is limited to a season-and-a-half of racing with Toro Rosso (now Racing Bulls) as a teenager.
“Now, from my side, it’s very difficult to say how difficult or how well the car drives, because I’ve not really driven any other car in my career or been with another team,” he said.
“So I just adapt to the situation that I’m in, you know, to the best I can.”
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