Liam Lawson believes he would have been better off keeping his seat at Red Bull Racing despite team principal Christian Horner describing his shock demotion as a case of being “cruel to be kind”.
Lawson qualified 18th and 20th in Australia and China respectively and failed to score on either weekend, precipitating crisis talks ahead of this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix that ended with him being removed him from the seat.
The Kiwi will return to Racing Bulls in Suzuka, with Yuki Tsunoda replacing him at the senior team.
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Team boss Horner said in a statement announcing the switch that he had a “duty of care” to protect the 23-year-old Lawson, and in a later interview with Sky Sports said that his axing was for his own good.
“I think with everything that we saw in Australia and China, you could see that it was really affecting Liam quite badly,” he said.
“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.
“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.
“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.”
But speaking to media in Suzuka on Thursday, Lawson said sticking with the team would have been better for him as he got himself up to speed with the difficult RB21.
“The best opportunity I had felt like it was with Red Bull Racing, and that’s what I was working towards since joining the junior program as a 16-year-old,” he said.
“I feel like I would’ve liked to have made that opportunity work and that that was in my best interests.
“But obviously Christian and the team will have their opinions on what’s best, and that’s up to them to decide.”
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Lawson was particularly surprised to have been hauled out of the car before the Japanese Grand Prix, the first race this year at which he has contemporary experience of the circuit.
The Kiwi had never raced in Melbourne or Shanghai, contributing to his struggles, but has extensive experience of the Suzuka Circuit, having raced at the track in both Formula 1 and Super Formula.
“That was what I was looking forward to from the start, to be honest, to go to a track that I’ve been to before to have a proper preparation,” he said.
“Obviously it’s very early in the season, and I was hoping to go to a track that I’d raced before and have a clean weekend, to have a chance like that, but the decision obviously was made when I was told.”
He was also disappointed that his disrupted pre-season hadn’t been taken into account.
Lawson lost much of his only full day in the car in Bahrain to a combination of technical problems and bad weather. An engine issue subsequently left him down on mileage in Melbourne, where the race was then run in challenging mixed conditions, while the sole practice hour of the sprint weekend in China was interrupted by a red flag.
“I’d maybe hoped that that would be taken into consideration more,” he admitted. “I think that’s why for me it was important to come to a place that I’d raced before and driven before.
“Melbourne and China are both tough tracks, and with the way the weekends went, they weren’t the smoothest.
“But it’s motorsport. The decision was not mine, but I’ll make the most of this one.”
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Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Horner suggested that Lawson’s demise was partly down to him being overloaded by the demands of the tricky RB21 and racing at the front.
“I was very clear with him: ‘It’s a sample of two races. I think that we’ve asked too much of you too soon’,” he said.
“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.”
But Lawson said his problems had been more circumstantial than fundamental, declaring he was ready to race at the front.
“I think it’s easy to look at it in that way with how the last couple of weekends went, but they were not the smoothest of weekends and at tracks that were very new to me,” he said.
“In some senses, yes, it was early, but at the same time I think part of the reason they brought me in in the first place was to adapt quickly, and although that was tough — you can say anything now that the decision’s been done — I think it doesn’t change how I view it or how I view myself.
“I felt like I was ready, so although the weekends were tough, that doesn’t change.”
Lawson revealed that a return to Red Bull Racing hasn’t been taken off the table but that his first priority was to re-establish his racing credentials.
“That’s part of the conversation,” he said. “In a way that’s great, but obviously I was already there starting the season and was focused on proving myself and on the team at that point.
“Whatever happens down the line is more or less out of my control; what I can control is the driving stuff to prove that. Where the future goes, honestly at this point I’m not really thinking about it too much.”