Of all the vicious bullets that have been fired in top-level sport, none has been aimed as fast as that heading for the scalp of Liam Lawson.
Until the last couple of days, the 25-year-old New Zealander was at the same time the most privileged and the most vulnerable driver in Formula One. He was fortunate enough to be sitting in a Red Bull car alongside Max Verstappen. It is an honour that comes with multiple asterisks.
The long list of those who have gone before, and been shot in the temple, stood as a haunting warning of the fate that has befallen him. None have lasted long. Sergio Perez was the great survivor, but even his new contract, signed last summer, went up like dynamite.
Lawson is expected to be fired after just two races this season14536911, to be sent to what must feel like Siberia, namely to Racing Bulls, Red Bull’s second team.
Lawson was given his Red Bull seat in preference to Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda, who was seen as too volatile in the cockpit. Too emotional. Now Tsunoda will step up to the senior ranks, swapping places with Lawson.
There are two ways of viewing this. One is that Red Bull are superbly ruthless and their results suggest a fire-on-sight policy has worked for them.
Liam Lawson has, until recently, been the most privileged and the most vulnerable driver in Formula One
He was fortunate to be in a Red Bull next to Max Verstappen, but that honour comes with multiple asterisks
Yuki Tsunoda, who was seen as too volatile in the cockpit previously, will now replace him
Christian Klein, Scott Speed, Sebastien Bourdais, Sebastien Buemi, Jaime Alguersuari, Jean-Eric Vergne, Daniil Kvyat, Brendon Hartley, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon — their professional corpses at Red Bull or Toro Rosso (as their sister team was then known) have been discarded in the accumulation of six constructors’ and eight drivers’ titles since the Austrian energy-drink firm came into the sport 20 years ago.
The modus operandi, overseen by team principal Christian Horner and motorsport advisor Helmut Marko, has been a case of prosper fast — or expect the bullet. Only a few have come through, Sebastian Vettel and Verstappen the shining stars, protected and glorified as their deeds demand.
The role of the second Red Bull driver these days is chiefly to protect and nurture the genius of Verstappen. That is what Perez did so brilliantly on that controversial night in Abu Dhabi in 2021, when Lewis Hamilton lost out after the most infamous safety car in motor-racing history was withdrawn.
Perez held up Hamilton with a fantastic defensive drive, a feat Verstappen hailed that night as he sipped celebratory gin and tonics on the Red Bull boat in the harbour.
There is no question his latest understudy’s results have been woeful. Lawson qualified 18th in Australia and crashed out. He qualified last in the sprint and for the grand prix in China, where he finished 14th and 12th. Verstappen, in contrast, was second in Australia, third in the sprint and fourth in the main race. He is the hardest driver in the world to go up against right now.
I am told by sources close to Red Bull that Verstappen is shaken by Lawson’s firing. ‘It is totally unfair to treat Liam like this,’ said the unnamed contact close to the scene. ‘You have to give him more than two races to prove himself after he has worked for this opportunity all his life.
‘He may not have done well, no argument over that. But to ditch him so fast is seriously bad. It smacks of a team in chaos.’
A leading driver, speaking off the record, confided the other day: ‘What is destroying Liam is the way he is dealt with by Helmut. The atmosphere there does not give their drivers room to breathe, to fulfil themselves.
The modus operandi, overseen by the likes of team principal Christian Horner, has been to prosper fast or expect the bullet
Lawson had a disastrous time at Red Bull, failing to score a point in his two races with team
The role of the second Red Bull driver is chiefly to protect and nurture the genius of Verstappen
Verstappen has been seen to be ‘shaken’ by the sacking of Lawson just two races into season
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‘It is not the way other teams work but it is the Red Bull way. It’s not an environment I’d want to work in. It is not conducive to getting the best out of people.’
If, as expected, Lawson is dropped for the Japanese Grand Prix a week on Sunday it will be one of the most quick-draw firings even by the standards of F1, the Piranha Club.
