Crisis meeting planned at Red Bull after Lawson stumbles again

After a string of unimpressive results left the Kiwi empty-handed in Shanghai, excessive pressure is mounting on Liam Lawson, who, just two races into his Red Bull stint, is already in danger of being dropped before the Japanese Grand Prix as the team calls a crisis meeting.

Taking no comfort in recording an inherited 12th-place finish at the Chinese Grand Prix—courtesy of three disqualifications and another driver’s penalty—Lawson now faces even greater scrutiny as bombshell reports of crisis meetings in Milton Keynes ripple through the paddock.

The Kiwi welcomed the fast turnaround between the Australian Grand Prix and the Chinese Grand Prix as an opportunity to quickly put his poor performance behind him, but instead, the hole he dug in Melbourne has only deepened.

Replicating his Sprint Qualifying result, Lawson secured himself the very last grid slot ahead of lights out on Sunday.

With nothing to lose, Red Bull made the decision to start Lawson from the pitlane to allow the team to make some “aggressive” set-up changes, in hopes of making ground across the 56-lap Chinese Grand Prix.  

“To be honest, we were even more competitive in yesterday’s Sprint,” Lawson said.

“We were able to overtake cars and move forward, it’s just we tried something with set-up to learn something today—it was quite a big step—and unfortunately it just didn’t work.

“So, a lot to learn from this weekend—a lot for me personally to get on top of as well.

“It’s just been extremely tough.”

Trailing out of the pitlane on the uncharted hard compound tyre, Red Bull committed the Kiwi to an opposing strategy compared to his medium tyre-starting competitors.

On the better race tyre, Lawson quickly found himself running in 18th thanks to a poor start for both Sauber drivers, with Jack Doohan the next driver ahead.

The rookies squabbled over the back-marker position, however, to no avail for the Kiwi with the restrictions of the DRS train not doing him any favours. 

Lawson made his first pitstop on Lap 19, ditching the hard compound tyre even before some of the medium tyre runners had done so, rejoining the race in 18th, six seconds behind the nearest car. 

Following no gain and a position lost to a flying Oliver Bearman—running the same tyre strategy— Lawson surrendered his medium tyres on Lap 30, filing out of the pitlane in P18 once again.

On one of the rare occasions in which the Kiwi was able to test out his overtaking abilities, Lawson made a pass on a struggling Nico Hulkenberg, moving into seventeenth on track to end his Shanghai campaign.

The Kiwi received an instant promotion before the final standings were released hours later, sighting Lawson as the 12th-place finisher in China.

“I’d love to say I just need more time driving the car, but obviously, we don’t really have that,” Lawson said.

“Fortunately, we go to a track that I know and it’s a track that I like.

“But you know, I’ll be spending this week very heavily going into absolutely everything to try and, obviously, do a better job.”

Not one to shy away from brutal honesty in the media, Red Bull Advisor, Helmut Marko confirmed that the team would be holding a crisis meeting ahead of their trip to Suzuka.

“This week there is a meeting in Milton Keynes to discuss when and how we can close the gap,” Marko said, speaking with Sky DE.

“Until then, it’s about scoring as many points as possible.

“We are worried, but it is not like we are throwing in the towel.”

The old-fashioned personality also made it clear that Yuki Tsunoda was on Red Bull’s radar, with the Japanese driver having previously missed out on the call-up to the team in favour of Liam Lawson. 

In a conversation with motorsport.com, Marko said: “Yuki is a different Yuki from the years before. He is in the form of his life. Obviously, he changed his management. He has a different approach. He’s more mature. It took a while, but now it looks like it’s working.”

Christian Horner, Team Principal at Red Bull Racing also said after the race that the team “will study all the data and do our best to support Liam”. 

Crucially, however, Horner added: “But we also need two drivers who score points.”

As shared by motorsport.com, Tsunoda is the front-runner for the drive alongside Max Verstappen, with Franco Colapinto also rumoured to potentially step into the #22’s seat at Racing Bulls, completely sidelining Lawson. 

“Amid a difficult start to the season for Lawson, Red Bull is already considering changing its driver line-up ahead of Suzuka, with Tsunoda named by paddock sources as a potential replacement,” motorsport.com reported.

“Although no final decision has been taken, discussions about such a scenario have begun – and the possibility of a driver swap between the two teams is understood to be likely.”

Returning to a conventional weekend format, the Japanese Grand Prix will run across April 4-6, with Red Bull utilising the time between China and Japan to make their decision.

Image: Clive Mason/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

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