Red Bull grijpt al na twee Formule 1-races in: Yuki Tsunoda neemt plaats Liam Lawson in. Lees meer op telegraaf.nl/sport
Liam Lawson is definitively sidelined by Red Bull Racing after just two races. From the Japanese Grand Prix onwards, Yuki Tsunoda is Max Verstappen's new teammate.
If it's being reported by Erik van Haren then it's probably legit.
The seat should've been Tsunoda's from the beginning if they can't bother giving Lawson a third race. Giving him just 2 to prove himself is immature.
If Tsunoda underperforms, who next? Hadjar? How long will this game of musical chairs go?
I understand F1 is extremely competitive, but the drivers need to be given time and support. Why spend years developing them in your driver program and signing them up to race if you're going to dump them at any moment?
In Sargeant's case, he was at least given half a season before being replaced last year.
The drivers that seem to have a good support system - Antonelli and Bearman - are currently faring better than Lawson and Doohan who are under heaps of pressure.
This farcical Red Bull dance all started with DeVries. They should never have gone for him, and Lawson should have gotten that whole season from the start. They also should have ignored the whole Daniel Ricciardo Redemption Project. Had they done things properly they'd have plenty of clear data by the end of last season of which of Yuki and Lawson is better and consequently deserves to replace Checo.
The drivers that seem to have a good support system - Antonelli and Bearman - are currently faring better than Lawson and Doohan who are under heaps of pressure.
They're also just more highly rated. I'm not saying Lawson is the new Mazepin, but neither he nor Doohan had particularly impressive junior careers.
Neither him nor Doohan were bad, but I wouldn't say either of them were impressive to the extent that would buy them massive leeway either. They would have never gone for DeVries in the first place if they actually believed in Lawson like they do in someone like Lindblad.
Lawson's results from Super Formula and DTM are more impressive than junior formula I think, though I don't know what the field is like there.
I'm still sad about the way it panned out for Sargeant to be honest.