Lawson partner makes staggering 'suicidal' comment over Red Bull switch

Liam Lawson's transfer back to the Racing Bulls team is a positive move for the New Zealander, according to backer Tony Quinn.

Quinn has long been associated with Lawson and supported the 23-year-old during his junior career, while Lawson sits as an ambassador for the Tony Quinn Foundation.

Lawson endured a difficult opening two rounds to the 2025 F1 season with Red Bull as he languished at the back of the grid.

The team took the decision after the Chinese Grand Prix to demote him to Racing Bulls, with Yuki Tsunoda getting a call-up to the senior team.

However, Quinn suggested the move will be good for Lawson, claiming he would be “near suicidal” if he remained at Red Bull.

“I actually think it’ll be good for him,” Quinn told Speedcafe.

“Carrying on for another event, and if it didn’t work out well, it would be worse for him I think – I think he’d be fucking near suicidal, to be quite honest.”

Lawson failed to progress out of the opening qualifying segment at both grands prix with Red Bull and could not progress to get near scoring points.

Quinn stated the struggles came as a surprise following a productive build-up to the new season.

“It’s been a lot harder than I think he thought it would be,” Quinn added.

“I think that’s a bit of a surprise because all the testing that he’s done and the simulator stuff was pointing in a very positive direction.

“The feel was that, if he didn’t improve by Japan – because in theory Japan should be good – that he would be replaced with Tsunoda.

“That was the early talk, and that’s obviously what’s happened. But it’s happened an event before we thought.”