March 27, 2025 • 6 mins
Liam Lawson has had the keys taken off him at Red Bull and will complete the Formula 1 season with the franchise's Racing Bulls development team.
He lasted two Grands Prix before management decided to replace him with Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda for his home event next weekend at Suzuka.
The switch confirms widespread speculation.
BBC Formula 1 correspondent Andrew Benson told Mike Hosking the line CEO Christian Horner is running about “duty of care” is them trying to dress the situation up as best they can.
He says getting rid of someone after two races isn’t duty of care by any stretch of the imagination, and instead, giving him a chance to try and perform better would be.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What a miserable week for William Lawson, a dream shattered.
As the news officially was released, as you well know,
overnight Lawson to racing Bullsonoda to the top team. Of course,
Christen Hornet called it the sporting decision and they had
a duty of care to protect and develop laws in
the BBC formula. And correspondent Andrew Binson's back, whether it's
Andrew morning to you morning, this has been a you know,
as you would understand, a mess of story in this
(00:21):
part of the world. How it seems to me to
be global as well. Has it been a big deal
where you are?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yeah, pretty massive everywhere. Actually, it's quite an extraordinary turn
of events, doesn't it. Give a guy a chance three
months ago, give him two races, and then flick him
for the guy you thought wasn't good enough when you
gave him the drive in the first place. So I
think most of them one is like what.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Yeah, when you put it like that, they almost seem
a nipped, are they?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Well it's not for me to say, is it, But
certainly lots of people are asking serious questions about this.
It goes right back to well, even perhaps before, but
certainly right back to last spring when Serge of Perez's
performances were beginning to tail off again for the second
year running, and yet Red Bull gave him a new
two year contract at the end of twenty twenty six.
Then he had a really bad season. They paid him
(01:08):
off at the end of the year put Lawson in
even though you know, he's only done eleven Grand Prix
before he started this season, and Sonoda, who was his
teammates at Racing Bulls or RB as it was called
last year, had done four seasons. Now they were pretty
evenly matched, but on most metrics, Snoda probably just about
edged it against Lawson in their time together. But still
(01:31):
they picked Lawson because they thought he was the guy
with the best potential. They didn't trust Snoda in terms
of mentality resilience going up against Max de Stappen in
the senior team and two races in you know before
Lawson's even driven on a track that he knows. You know,
this weekend next weekend in Japan is the first track
that he's been to before. Out of these races. At
(01:52):
the start of the year, they've got rid of him. Now.
Lawson obviously didn't have a very good start to the season,
there's no question about that, but you really have to
question if he was if he was the right guy
in December should assume a bit more chats. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
I note that helmet make this morning said it was
a mistake and he hasn't handled it mentally, and that
they couldn't have talked up as mental stability more at
the time. This duty of care line that Horner's running
this morning is for a really cutthroat team. Do we
believe that? I mean, on one hand, you talk us
about peerios, and you're right, they wanted to give them surety,
(02:25):
to give them confidence that look good. And then the
next thing, this second I can't work out what they're about.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Well, I think it smacks a little bit of trying
to dress it up as best they can. You know,
this is not a duty of care, is it, by
any stretch of the imagination getting rid of someone after
two races. The duty of care is to give him
chance to try and perform a bit better. Put your
arm around his shoulder, talk to him about what's going wrong.
I mean, from Lawson's point of view, Actually, I don't
think this is all negative. You know, there are other
(02:53):
drivers who Red Bull have rejected and have rebuilt their careers.
Look at Alix Alban, who's not Williams and very well
respected in One one, Pierre Gasly who's gone to Alpine
earning lots of money as their kind of lead driver
at the moment. So I think if Lawson deals with
this with a positive mindset, he can go back to
racing bulls. He can perform strongly. I think he probably
(03:14):
needs to get out of the red bull driver fold
as soon as he can. But if he performs strongly
at racing bulls, he's got every chance of doing that
and he could still have a long and successful Formula
One career.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
They're making a little bit of Thos mex for Stepans
liked an Instagram post from Guido Vanderguarde saying that he
was bullied out. The fact that mex has liked the
post has been seen as Mechs being unhappy again. How
much weight do you place on mex as unhappy and
eventually will end up somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Well, it's very interesting that post because Vastapan is not
the only Formula One driver who's liked it. So is
Oscar Piastre, So is Niko Holkenberg. So has Pierre Ghasly.
That's four out of twenty Formula One drivers or four
out of the other nineteen, if you like, who have
kind of what appears to be expressed their displeasure with
(04:00):
the way Red Bull have behaved. I don't think we
should presume what Verstappan thinks until we've spoken to him
in a week's time in Japan. But I have heard
on the grape vine. I mean, he was making it
pretty clear at the weekend in China that he, you know,
he didn't think it was the driver's fault in the
second Red Bull. He was you know, he thinks the
car is what's the problem is. You know, he thinks
(04:21):
it's the fourth fastest car on the grid. So I
think there are a lot of questions that need to
be addressed at the team, not just about their drivers choices.
You know, they've lost Adrian Nui, the you know, the
design guru who's gone to ask the Martin They've not
They've apparently lost competitiveness relatively over the over the winter.
So what's going on there? And if the cars are
(04:41):
this difficult to drive? We know that the Stappen's a genius.
Is Sonoda going to do any better than laws. And
these are all interesting questions.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Yeah, exactly, I'm interested in Andrew and you're taking Liam
from from the outside, and obviously we're obsessed about him.
He's not. He's a likable guy. Yes, he's skilled, because
he wouldn't be an IF one, But what's your view
of him as a driver?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Well, until this, until this certain turn of events, he
was he'd looked like a very decent Formula One driver,
you know, he'd acquitted himself well, and those eleven Grand
Prix spread over the two seats. The two previous seasons,
he'd been aggressive and robust, you know, racing wheel to
wheel with the likes of Fernando al on So last
year and Perez, you know, not making any friends. But
(05:21):
then from the one drivers aren't out to make friends.
He seems like a very personable guy when you meet him.
But to be honest with you, the last two races
in Australia and China, he's looked like a rabbit caught
in the headlights. He's looked like someone who was really struggling,
couldn't get his head around why it wasn't working with
the car quite how the car was so difficult It
(05:42):
did look like he was struggling. I have to say,
you know, you would catch glimpses of him while he
was waiting to be interviewed on camera, for example, and
he just looked, you know, it looked like it looked
completely shell shocked. Things like that. But you know, I'm
sure he'll be able to bounce back from this. Certainly
people hope so. But he needs to think about it positively.
(06:03):
It's very hard to think about that now. You can
see how he must be thinking. All his dreams have
been shattered. But as long as he thinks positively, thinks right,
I'm going to go out there. I'm going to prove
them wrong. He can still he can still maintain a
career going on.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
And Andrew not to catch up. Appreciate it very much.
Andrew Binson, who's with the BBC's Formula one correspondent Nix
Race this coming weekend week in of course Japan. For
more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks.
It'd be from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio
What a miserable week for William Lawson, a dream shattered.
As the news officially was released, as you well know,
overnight Lawson to racing Bullsonoda to the top team. Of course,
Christen Hornet called it the sporting decision and they had
a duty of care to protect and develop laws in
the BBC formula. And correspondent Andrew Binson's back, whether it's
Andrew morning to you morning, this has been a you know,
as you would understand, a mess of story in this
(00:21):
part of the world. How it seems to me to
be global as well. Has it been a big deal
where you are?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yeah, pretty massive everywhere. Actually, it's quite an extraordinary turn
of events, doesn't it. Give a guy a chance three
months ago, give him two races, and then flick him
for the guy you thought wasn't good enough when you
gave him the drive in the first place. So I
think most of them one is like what.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Yeah, when you put it like that, they almost seem
a nipped, are they?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Well it's not for me to say, is it, But
certainly lots of people are asking serious questions about this.
It goes right back to well, even perhaps before, but
certainly right back to last spring when Serge of Perez's
performances were beginning to tail off again for the second
year running, and yet Red Bull gave him a new
two year contract at the end of twenty twenty six.
Then he had a really bad season. They paid him
(01:08):
off at the end of the year put Lawson in
even though you know, he's only done eleven Grand Prix
before he started this season, and Sonoda, who was his
teammates at Racing Bulls or RB as it was called
last year, had done four seasons. Now they were pretty
evenly matched, but on most metrics, Snoda probably just about
edged it against Lawson in their time together. But still
(01:31):
they picked Lawson because they thought he was the guy
with the best potential. They didn't trust Snoda in terms
of mentality resilience going up against Max de Stappen in
the senior team and two races in you know before
Lawson's even driven on a track that he knows. You know,
this weekend next weekend in Japan is the first track
that he's been to before. Out of these races. At
(01:52):
the start of the year, they've got rid of him. Now.
Lawson obviously didn't have a very good start to the season,
there's no question about that, but you really have to
question if he was if he was the right guy
in December should assume a bit more chats. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
I note that helmet make this morning said it was
a mistake and he hasn't handled it mentally, and that
they couldn't have talked up as mental stability more at
the time. This duty of care line that Horner's running
this morning is for a really cutthroat team. Do we
believe that? I mean, on one hand, you talk us
about peerios, and you're right, they wanted to give them surety,
(02:25):
to give them confidence that look good. And then the
next thing, this second I can't work out what they're about.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Well, I think it smacks a little bit of trying
to dress it up as best they can. You know,
this is not a duty of care, is it, by
any stretch of the imagination getting rid of someone after
two races. The duty of care is to give him
chance to try and perform a bit better. Put your
arm around his shoulder, talk to him about what's going wrong.
I mean, from Lawson's point of view, Actually, I don't
think this is all negative. You know, there are other
(02:53):
drivers who Red Bull have rejected and have rebuilt their careers.
Look at Alix Alban, who's not Williams and very well
respected in One one, Pierre Gasly who's gone to Alpine
earning lots of money as their kind of lead driver
at the moment. So I think if Lawson deals with
this with a positive mindset, he can go back to
racing bulls. He can perform strongly. I think he probably
(03:14):
needs to get out of the red bull driver fold
as soon as he can. But if he performs strongly
at racing bulls, he's got every chance of doing that
and he could still have a long and successful Formula
One career.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
They're making a little bit of Thos mex for Stepans
liked an Instagram post from Guido Vanderguarde saying that he
was bullied out. The fact that mex has liked the
post has been seen as Mechs being unhappy again. How
much weight do you place on mex as unhappy and
eventually will end up somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Well, it's very interesting that post because Vastapan is not
the only Formula One driver who's liked it. So is
Oscar Piastre, So is Niko Holkenberg. So has Pierre Ghasly.
That's four out of twenty Formula One drivers or four
out of the other nineteen, if you like, who have
kind of what appears to be expressed their displeasure with
(04:00):
the way Red Bull have behaved. I don't think we
should presume what Verstappan thinks until we've spoken to him
in a week's time in Japan. But I have heard
on the grape vine. I mean, he was making it
pretty clear at the weekend in China that he, you know,
he didn't think it was the driver's fault in the
second Red Bull. He was you know, he thinks the
car is what's the problem is. You know, he thinks
(04:21):
it's the fourth fastest car on the grid. So I
think there are a lot of questions that need to
be addressed at the team, not just about their drivers choices.
You know, they've lost Adrian Nui, the you know, the
design guru who's gone to ask the Martin They've not
They've apparently lost competitiveness relatively over the over the winter.
So what's going on there? And if the cars are
(04:41):
this difficult to drive? We know that the Stappen's a genius.
Is Sonoda going to do any better than laws. And
these are all interesting questions.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Yeah, exactly, I'm interested in Andrew and you're taking Liam
from from the outside, and obviously we're obsessed about him.
He's not. He's a likable guy. Yes, he's skilled, because
he wouldn't be an IF one, But what's your view
of him as a driver?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Well, until this, until this certain turn of events, he
was he'd looked like a very decent Formula One driver,
you know, he'd acquitted himself well, and those eleven Grand
Prix spread over the two seats. The two previous seasons,
he'd been aggressive and robust, you know, racing wheel to
wheel with the likes of Fernando al on So last
year and Perez, you know, not making any friends. But
(05:21):
then from the one drivers aren't out to make friends.
He seems like a very personable guy when you meet him.
But to be honest with you, the last two races
in Australia and China, he's looked like a rabbit caught
in the headlights. He's looked like someone who was really struggling,
couldn't get his head around why it wasn't working with
the car quite how the car was so difficult It
(05:42):
did look like he was struggling. I have to say,
you know, you would catch glimpses of him while he
was waiting to be interviewed on camera, for example, and
he just looked, you know, it looked like it looked
completely shell shocked. Things like that. But you know, I'm
sure he'll be able to bounce back from this. Certainly
people hope so. But he needs to think about it positively.
(06:03):
It's very hard to think about that now. You can
see how he must be thinking. All his dreams have
been shattered. But as long as he thinks positively, thinks right,
I'm going to go out there. I'm going to prove
them wrong. He can still he can still maintain a
career going on.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
And Andrew not to catch up. Appreciate it very much.
Andrew Binson, who's with the BBC's Formula one correspondent Nix
Race this coming weekend week in of course Japan. For
more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks.
It'd be from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio
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