Former Lawson team-mate offers Red Bull axe verdict

Liam Lawson's former DTM team-mate Nick Cassidy has offered his views on the Racing Bulls driver's demotion from Red Bull, describing it as "harsh". 

Lawson was partnered by Cassidy – currently racing for Jaguar in Formula E – in the controversial 2020 DTM season-finale, where the latter replaced Williams' Alex Albon. 

It has been an extremely difficult start to his first full F1 campaign for Lawson, who was demoted to Racing Bulls after just two races with Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen.

His first race with the sister team in the Japanese Grand Prix was not much better, having been comfortably adrift of team-mate Isack Hadjar. 

Lawson was also five-tenths slower than Hadjar on the opening day of the Bahrain Grand Prix, further increasing the pressure on the New Zealander. 

Cassidy does believe that Lawson's Red Bull axe was cruel, but that the demotion can act as a stepping stone going forwards.

"Yeah, I think it's a tough situation for him," Cassidy told RacingNews365. "Ultimately, I think he would be the first to admit that he didn't deliver probably what he's capable of. 

"And yes, maybe [it was] harsh after two races. I think he had a [tough] free practice [in China] going into a sprint. I think they [Red Bull] were experimenting a lot with the car, maybe not just for him, but for the greater good of the team. 

"Just from the outside that's what it looks like, and then things changed quite quickly for him. But ultimately, he didn't quite do the business in those two races, and he got caught in a pretty harsh business as a result of it. 

"I think he has a good chance to recover now though, he's in a very competitive car. The Racing Bulls car looks strong with Hadjar, so certainly he still has lots of opportunities to prove himself this year."