Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer has disputed the notion that the second Formula 1 seat alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull is cursed.
Verstappen went through three team-mates in four rounds across the end of last season and the beginning of the current campaign, as Sergio Perez’s replacement Liam Lawson was swapped with Yuki Tsunoda after just two rounds this year.
Perez himself took over from former Red Bull prospect Alex Albon, who lasted a season and a half at Red Bull, having taken the drive from Pierre Gasly – the Frenchman lasting just 10 rounds in 2019 as Daniel Ricciardo’s replacement.
These prolonged troubles in the second Red Bull seat have come amid Verstappen’s meteoric rise as a four-time World Champion.
The latter point is what Bayer stresses when he dispels the claims the second Red Bull seat is poisoned.
“I’m not so sure I agree it is a poisoned seat, to be honest,” he told RacingNews365.
“I look at Checo [Sergio Perez] a couple of years ago, and he was a vice-world champion.
“Helmut [Marko] and Christian [Horner] are probably way more qualified to answer this, but you have the talent of a century, somebody so focused. I don’t know of any driver so focused on racing, driving, like Max.
“It’s all he does. He wakes up and he’s thinking about racing. He goes to bed and he’s thinking about racing… or he’s not going to bed and he’s sim racing.
“He’s been trained his whole life to be ready for this challenge, and, obviously, with the success, the mental strength is coming.
“So I don’t think you can speak about a poisoned seat. It’s just that the cars are so pointy nowadays that either you manage to drive the car, or you don’t.
“And I think that will be the challenge for Yuki, and I think he can drive that car.”
Lawson returning to old self at Racing Bulls
Poisoned seat or otherwise, Lawson being demoted back to the Racing Bulls line-up after just two races as Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate was a bruising experience for the New Zealander.
Bayer could see upon Lawson’s return to the Faenza-based outfit the swap with Tsunoda had an adverse effect, but it was something he quickly shrugged off.
“Honestly, I think it took a moment for him to digest,” Bayer told media including Motorsport Week ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
“First time I saw him when he came to Italy, he looked a bit sad. Honestly, that’s how I perceived him.
“He was a bit puzzled with everything that happened very quickly.
“But also, at the same time, he knew the people, the tools, the set-up.
“And I really felt that very quickly he was returning to being the old Liam.
“He’s a great racer, somebody that has great humour, and that’s what we see now again.”
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