Christian Horner refuses to rule out immediate Red Bull driver swap

Christian Horner has refused to affirm Liam Lawson will still be driving for Red Bull at the next race in Japan.

After just two grands prix, Lawson is already under severe pressure to retain his seat following his promotion from Racing Bulls to replace Sergio Perez.

The New Zealander has suffered three successive eliminations from the first part of qualifying, with China hosting a sprint as well as the grand prix. At the Shanghai International Circuit, he was slowest in both qualifying sessions.

In Australia and China, Lawson started the grands prix from the pit lane after Red Bull opted to make set-up changes. After crashing out in the wet at Melbourne's Albert Park, he finished 15th in Shanghai.

With the next race in Japan on Yuki Tsunoda's home turf, it is being speculated he could be in the RB21, with Lawson demoted to Racing Bulls.

Asked whether he was considering a change, team principal Horner said: "There's always going to be speculation in the paddock. We've only just finished the race here. We'll take away the info and have a good look at it."

Pressed on whether there could be a swap for the race at Suzuka, Horner added: "Everything is purely speculative at the moment. As I said, we've just finished this race. We're going to take away the info and have a good look at it."

Horner feels 'sorry' for Lawson

Horner maintained Lawson "still has potential", but "he's just not realising it at the moment".

"The problem for him is that he's had a couple of really tough weekends," said Horner. "He's got all the media on his back, and the pressure just naturally grows in this business. I feel very sorry for him. You can see it's very tough."

Despite such a position and seemingly offering a virtual arm around Lawson's shoulder, it was pointed out to Horner that he was offering no reassurances.

"We're two races in, we've just finished this race," replied Horner. "We take away the information we have and have a good look at it."

As to whether the data supplied would be a good enough reference given Lawson had never previously raced at either, no excuses were being offered.

"These guys get up to speed pretty quickly," he said. "We will just continue to evaluate it. We've got a stack of data to go and have a look at. That's what we'll do."