Red Bull reveal 'significant' changes for Lawson

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has revealed Red Bull carried out “significant” changes to Liam Lawson's car ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix.

Lawson ended Saturday's qualifying session from Shanghai slowest as he struggled to extract pace from the RB21 challenger.

The New Zealander has endured a troubled start to life at Red Bull as his lacklustre performances at the opening two rounds have already generated talk of a driver swap within the team.

The 22-year-old is the latest driver to struggle for speed alongside Max Verstappen, with Sergio Perez, Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly having similar concerns before him.

While accepting the car's behaviour makes it difficult to drive, Horner pointed to Perez's runner-up spot in the F1 championship in 2023 as an indication the concern is not purely car-related.

“Let’s remember that Checo [Perez] finished second in the world championship two years ago,” Horner told media including RacingNews365. 

“The car is difficult to drive, and Max is able to adjust to that.”

Following his early qualifying exit in China, Red Bull shifted Lawson's car to the pit lane for the start of the race.

This came about after the Milton Keynes-based squad carried out major set-up changes to offer Lawson a more comfortable platform behind the wheel.

“Liam is obviously, confidence-wise, struggling with the car at the moment, which is why we made some significant changes [for the race] to see if we could find a more confidence-inspiring setup for him,” Horner added.

Lawson 'still has potential', declares Horner

Despite the vast changes made to his car, Lawson languished towards the rear of the pack for the entire Chinese Grand Prix and crossed the line in 15th place.

The 23-year-old was bumped up three positions after post-race penalties were applied but it was not enough to see him break into the points.

Horner asserted Red Bull has retained confidence Lawson can perform going forward despite his difficult start to the year.

“I think Liam still has potential," said Horner. "We’re just not realising that at the moment.

“I think the problem for him is he’s had a couple of really tough weekends.

“He’s got all the media on his back, a whole bunch of pressure that just naturally grows in this business.

“I feel very sorry for him, you can see it’s very tough on him at the moment.”