Christian Horner addresses ‘horrible’ decision to demote Liam Lawson

The 2025 Formula 1 season is only two race weekends old, but the grid already has its first driver change. Red Bull demoted Liam Lawson after the Chinese Grand Prix, swapping him with Yuki Tsunoda. Lawson now returns to Visa Cash App Racing Bulls while Tsunoda gets to realize his dream of driving for Red Bull starting with his home race, this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.

Speaking before the weekend Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner opened up about the “horrible” decision the team faced after just two races.

“Of course, it’s horrible because you’re taking away someone’s dreams and aspirations, but sometimes you’ve got to be cruel to be kind, and I think that in this instance, this is not the end for Liam,” said Horner in an interview with Sky Sports F1.

“I was very clear with him, is that it’s a sample of two races. I think that we’ve asked too much of you too soon.”

Building off that latter point, Horner believes that a return to VCARB is a chance to “nurture” the talent that Lawson has while tapping into Tsunoda’s experience on the grid as the team tries to improve the RB21, their challenger for the 2025 F1 season.

“We have to accept, I think we were asking too much of him too soon. And so this is for him to, again, nurture that talent that we know that he has, back in the Racing Bulls seat, whilst giving Yuki the opportunity and looking to make use of the experience that he has,” said Horner.

“We’ve got work to do with the car,” Horner continued. “We need to improve the car. We need to draw on the experience that Yuki has.

“And in the meantime, you [Lawson] need to go and rebuild yourself in the Racing Bulls, in an environment that you know and is perhaps slightly less pressured than Red Bull Racing.”

While many — such as this author — believed the team needed to show a little more patience with Lawson, Horner cited the concerns of engineers as one of the driving factors behind the move.

”I think with everything that we saw in Australia and China, you could see that it was really affecting Liam quite badly.

“It was something that was very clear to the engineering side within the team, just how much Liam was struggling with it all, and you could see that weight upon his shoulders,” added Horner.

“The engineers were coming to me very concerned about it, and at the end of the day, I think it was the logical thing to do.”

Ultimately, the early switch might have more to do with the calendar, than anything else. As has been covered here at SB Nation and elsewhere, the impending 2026 regulation changes are forcing teams to have one eye on developing their 2025 cars, and another on preparing for a whole new world to arrive in 2026.

As such, teams may quickly turn the page to next season to try and get off to a strong start, if a title in 2025 is not feasible. This is something Guenther Steiner explained to SB Nation back in February, and something that Helmut Marko hinted at earlier this week.

Horner noted that Red Bull — who currently sit third in the Constructors’ Championship standings — do not have the luxury of “time” on their side.

“We could have left it, and I think that Liam is a driver with talent,” said Horner. “Maybe within half a season he would have got there, but we just don’t have that amount of time.”

Now the team turns to Tsunoda to try and get time back on their side.