Liam Lawson has been brutally criticised as being "worse than Sergio Perez" by 1997 F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve after another qualifying disaster. The Red Bull driver was eliminated in the first part of qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix and had to settle for a staggering 20th. It marks Lawson's third consecutive early qualifying exit across any format, and his second consecutive P20 qualifying result also across any format. The New Zealander is very much up against it, with Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko having refused to rule out a mid-season driver change. As pointed out by Villeneuve, Lawson must meet Marko's demands to remain with the team or risk an embarrassing early exit. "At the moment he is doing worse than Sergio Perez," Villeneuve told F1TV . "Red Bull is not the team to have a bad weekend. "Helmut Marko puts enormous pressure on his drivers. He expects mental strength, and if you are not up to it, he puts you out. "They just have almost no drivers left in their own junior programme. That's the problem. It's a difficult environment."
Marko too harsh
Despite Lawson's poor performances since being chosen to replace Perez, Villeneuve has called on Marko to be less harsh towards his drivers. In addition to criticising Lawson, Marko infamously hit out at Isack Hadjar for crying in his helmet after crashing on the formation lap of the Australian Grand Prix. Villeneuve did not approve of Marko's reaction Hadjar's crash but has also questioned whether the likes of Lawson and Hadjar are actually ready for F1. "Even with Isack Hadjar last weekend, it was extremely difficult," added Villeneuve. "The boy was moved to tears when he crashed, after which Helmut reacted very badly to it. "That only creates more pressure. These drivers are still very young. Maybe they are just not ready for Formula 1 and mentally not strong enough yet. "But if Marko has a role, there are only two possibilities: either you are strong very quickly or you are out."
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