Christian Horner declares true Liam Lawson stance after Red Bull axe

Christian Horner has said that he was "uncomfortable" with Red Bull's decision to promote Liam Lawson to the senior team at the start of 2025.

Following the disintegration of Sergio Perez's form after the second half of 2024, he was dropped for '25, with New Zealander Lawson drafted in as the Mexican's replacement alongside Max Verstappen. 

However, Lawson had never enjoyed an F1 pre-season or started a season, and had just 11 grands prix to his name; nor had he ever raced at Australia's Albert Park or China's Shanghai circuits, the first two races of the season. 

In Melbourne, Lawson suffered an engine problem and missed most of FP3 and qualified 18th before spinning out during the treacherous conditions in the uber-tricky-to-drive RB21, something even Verstappen was struggling with. 

Next time out in China, Lawson was 20th on the grid, before climbing to 12th in the race, but before the Japanese GP at Suzuka, the decision was taken to send Lawson back to Racing Bulls and to promote Yuki Tsunoda to the senior team. 

After his confidence had been "smashed", in Horner's words, Lawson recovered at Racing Bulls to finish 14th in the standings, including a career-best fifth place in Azerbaijan. 

Reflecting on the episode in his new memoir Drive, a copy of which has been read by RacingNews365, Horner describes how he was "uncomfortable" with the decision to promote Lawson in the first place.

"Helmut [Marko] has championed the promotion, but I felt uncomfortable. He was young and inexperienced, with only 11 Formula 1 races to his name, and we would be asking a huge amount from him, and meanwhile, Helmut was playing games.

"Before the final race of the [2024] season in Abu Dhabi, he had informed Liam that he would be driving for Red Bull because of his influence. When I challenged Helmut on this, he typically denied everything.

"The move back to Racing Bulls was tough for Liam. But he really shouldn't have been promoted in the first place."