Marko owns up: Lawson promotion to Red Bull 'was a mistake
03/27/2025 09:46 AM
In Formula 1, Red Bull's decision-making has long been guided by the sharp instincts of Helmut Marko, the energy drink company's motorsport advisor and driver programme guru.
But just two races into the 2025 season, the 81-year-old Austrian has made a rare admission: promoting Liam Lawson to replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull Racing was a blunder.
The New Zealander's faltering start to this year's campaign prompted a swift reversal, with Yuki Tsunoda stepping up from Racing Bulls in a straight swap.
Lawson's return to the junior squad marks a humbling retreat for a team that prides itself on bold choices – and Marko isn't shying away from the fallout, likening the young driver to a "battered boxer" overwhelmed by the ring.
The saga began after Perez's exit at the end of 2024, a season that saw Red Bull lose the constructors' crown despite Max Verstappen's fourth consecutive drivers' title.
Seeking a fresh spark, Red Bull tapped Lawson, a 23-year-old with just 11 grands prix under his belt across two stints with Racing Bulls – first subbing for an injured Daniel Ricciardo in 2023, then replacing him outright after Singapore 2024.
©RedBull
The hope was that Lawson's grit, glimpsed in those cameos, would steady the second seat alongside Verstappen. Instead, his debut races with the senior team were a disaster: Q1 exits in Australia and China, including dead last in both Shanghai's sprint and grand prix grids, and zero points to show for it.
After Shangahi, Red Bull had seen enough.
Marko's Candid Confession
In an interview with Austria's OE24, Marko peeled back the curtain on why Lawson got the nod over Tsunoda, who'd spent four seasons honing his craft at Racing Bulls.
"Yuki was too inconsistent," Marko said, defending the initial call. "That's why we unanimously decided in favour of Lawson."
The logic seemed sound: Tsunoda's flashes of brilliance in 2024 were tempered by erratic lapses, while Lawson's limited outings suggested a steely resolve tailor-made for the pressure cooker of Red Bull Racing.
Marko and the team banked on the Kiwi's mental fortitude to withstand Verstappen's towering presence – a test that had broken predecessors like Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon. But the gamble unraveled almost instantly.
"He wasn't able to perform under the greater pressure, right from the first day in Australia," Marko admitted.
©RedBull
Lawson's 18th-place qualifying in Melbourne, followed by a crash in wet conditions, set a grim tone. China was worse: last on the grid twice, with a 12th-place finish in the Grand Prix owed more to others' misfortune than his own pace.
Marko saw the cracks widen with each lap.
"Then he went into a downward spiral," he continued. "It's like a battered boxer, it's very difficult to get out of it."
The vivid metaphor painted a picture of a driver dazed and reeling, unable to find his footing against the sport's relentless demands.
A Mistake Laid Bare
For Marko, a man known for his unflinching standards, the reckoning was blunt.
"From that point of view, it was a mistake [to pick Lawson]," he conceded.
The admission carries weight, not just for its rarity, but for what it reveals about Red Bull's driver strategy.
Lawson's promotion was meant to signal a new era, a bold bet on youth to bolster Verstappen's title defenses and reclaim the constructors' crown from McLaren.
©RedBull
Instead, it exposed a misjudgment: the belief that 11 races' worth of experience could prepare anyone for the crucible of Red Bull's top seat. Tsunoda, bypassed for his inconsistency, now gets his shot, armed with seasoning Lawson lacked.
As the Kiwi retreats to Racing Bulls, the spotlight shifts. Can Tsunoda, starting at his home grand prix in Suzuka next week, deliver where Lawson faltered?
For Marko, the early swap is a chance to right a wrong, but it's also a tacit acknowledgment that Red Bull's famed driver pipeline – once a conveyor belt of champions like Sebastian Vettel and Verstappen – missed the mark this time.
The "battered boxer" is out of the ring, and Red Bull's quest for harmony alongside its star driver begins anew. In a sport where mistakes are measured in milliseconds, Marko's candor is a stark reminder: even the sharpest minds can misread the grid.
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