Christian Horner did not reject speculation that Yuki Tsunoda Liam Lawson could replace Red Bull for the next F1 race in Japan.
Lawson endured a Torrid opening two races as the teammate of Max Verstappen: He crashed twice in China from the Season Open Australian GP and qualified last on the just twice.
The New Zealander himself acknowledged that he “has no time” on his hands to reverse his shape, while various outlets after the race in Shanghai reported that Red Bull had considered a scam for the Japanese Grand Prix, with Racing Bulls, Tsunoda in line to replace Lawson.
The Red Bull team head, Horner, was printed with the written press after Sunday’s race on the situation in his media briefing and refused to exclude an early-season swap.
“There will always be speculation in the road stall,” Horner said when asked if Red Bull could make a change for Japan (April 4-6).
“As I say, we just finished the race here, we take away the information and look closely at it.
“I think everything is pure speculative right now. As I say, we just finished this race, we’re going to take away the information and look at it well. ‘
Horner added that he is “very sorry” for Lawson at the moment, because he is struggling to adapt to the RB21.
“I think Liam still has potential, we don’t realize it right now,” he said.
“I think the problem for him is that he had some difficult weekends and that he has all the media on his back.
‘Of course, the pressure only grows in this business. I feel very sorry for being … You can see that it is very difficult for him right now.
“He is a young man, we have a duty to look after him. We are going to do the best to support him. Liam is still a very capable driver, we know that we just don’t … For whatever reason we are not seeing that he can deliver it at the moment. “
Horner further answered whether Tsunoda, who qualified ninth on the timetable, would be the “Prime candidate” to replace Lawson, replied: ‘I’m not even going to comment on a change because it will be your first heading.
“As I say, we are two races in this championship, we have an example of two [races]. We have quite a bit of information, so we’re going to go away and look at it, work with Liam and do the best we can for him.
‘There’s so much information [available]How he was adapted to drive the car, which he gets out of the car, what we can do to help, where were his most important problems, causing the contradiction … all these problems. “
