Christian Horner has spoken out about Red Bull's choice to promote Liam Lawson alongside Max Verstappen to the team next year. The manager admits it was a tough decision between the New Zealander and Yuki Tsunoda, but Lawson's potential is considered superior.
“I think the feeling within the team is that Liam’s trajectory has more potential, that’s why we chose that route” Horner said. “But that doesn’t rule out Yuki for the future, the decision was very split and Yuki impressed the team during his testing in Abu Dhabi.”
“His feedback was good and, if necessary, we could call on him if needed. We have a lot of information, and 11 races is short, but if you look closer at Liam's performances in qualifications, the gaps compared to Yuki were very small.”
“And on race pace he proved, on average, superior to Yuki. There's not much to choose between them, but considering Liam only has 11 races to go its assets and it is already at this level, the growth potential is still significant.”
Horner highlighted the young driver's adaptability and rapid progression as key factors in his decision: “There are two things that struck me about Liam, one of which is his versatility. You put him in a situation, he comes out of it.”
“If you remember his debut at Zandvoort after Daniel [Ricciardo] broke his fingers, he was racing against Max on his lap. He has this kind of courageous mentality. He spent a year in DTM where he adapted very quickly to driving a Ferrari GT alongside Alex Albon and generally got the upper hand.”
In addition to his versatility, Horner praised Lawson's racing technique, which has stood out since his F1 debut: “His sense of racing is truly one of his main assets. He is not afraid to go wheel to wheel and even rub against the wheels when necessary.”
“So I think he's going to do a good job for us. The engineers have enjoyed working with him in the races he's done this year. He's got a good work ethic as well.”
Sergio Pérez had a disastrous last season at Red Bull. The pressure of being Verstappen's teammate has taken its toll on several drivers in the past, but Horner believes Lawson will be different.
“What really stood out about him was his attitude and his ability to handle pressure. All the newbies looked like they were newbies, but Liam didn't give up on the car, he didn't didn't make any mistakes and he looked like an experienced driver, and he's also agile.”
“He has broad shoulders, which is necessary to occupy that wheel, and Checo, certainly for three of the four years, has dealt with that pressure, and Liam has the right character to deal with the pressure of being the teammate of Max, and the expectations of him are very clear.”
“We don't expect him to beat Max, who is a generational talent, but the aim is for Liam to be as close as possible and to score as many points as possible so that we don't have a deficit of 285 points between the two cars.”
Horner says Red Bull have learned from Pérez's experience to help Lawson deal with the pressure: “I think the key is not to put too much pressure on him and not to put too much pressure on himself thinking that he is going to face the best driver of his generation.”
“I think he almost has to ignore the data from Car 1 and focus on his engineering team, on what he's doing, and doing the best job he can, and everything will be fine. And I hope we “I hope we'll be able to provide him with a car that suits him as well as Max next year, and we'll see how he develops.”
Will this RB21 be easier to tame? Will it suit Lawson?
“Hard to say! This is the first time Adrian [Newey] will have absolutely no influence on the car. It is up to our engineers across the entire team to meet this challenge. I'm confident they can do it without him. They have strength and depth and we'll see what the RB21 looks like when it starts to take shape during assembly at the end of January.”
“The team did a great job overcoming some difficulties this year and getting performance out of the car at the end of the season. The pole position and the win in Qatar, the win in Brazil. We were also very competitive in the sprint race in Brazil. And the sprint victory in Austin, even at the start of this last series of races.
And finally, how was Yuki Tsunoda informed of this choice?
“It was Helmut who took care of it.”
Marko confirms: “He is currently in Japan and I spoke to him on the phone. He took the news relatively calmly. I told him to keep pushing at Racing Bulls and then we will see. He responded positively.”
The Austrian admits that “in fact, it was a luxury problem; both deserved the promotion.”
“The engineers presented us with similar figures on which we based our decision. But Lawson may still have room for improvement in the future. Above all, it was his mental strength that was the deciding factor in the final.”
