Red Bull criticised for not following Mercedes approach to help Liam Lawson

Former F1 strategist Bernie Collins has questioned why Red Bull didn’t give Liam Lawson an extensive testing programme ahead of his debut with the team.

Lawson has struggled in his first two races for Red Bull, failing to score a point.

His poor form has led to intense speculation about his future, with Yuki Tsunoda potentially taking his drive for the Japanese Grand Prix onwards.

However, Lawson could be out of F1 entirely.

A report by Motorsport.es has suggested that Red Bull are eyeing Franco Colapinto as Tsunoda’s replacement at Racing Bulls, possibly leaving Lawson without a drive for the remainder of 2025.

Collins, who was part of Sky Sports F1’s team for the Chinese Grand Prix weekend, criticised Red Bull for not giving Lawson more testing time.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli got approximately 9,000 kilometres of running on old Mercedes cars ahead of his F1 debut at the Australian Grand Prix.

Collins feels that Red Bull should have done the same with Lawson.

“We’ve spoken about how the Red Bull is a very tricky car to drive. It’s not the same as a Racing Bulls. What I’d love to know is why did Red Bull not do a similar programme to Mercedes with Liam Lawson,” Collins said.

“Why was he not doing a similar amount of test days in a four-year-old Red Bull, it’s going to have the same characteristics, there is no cost cap limit in that.

“He could’ve stepped into that car in a much stronger position if he did that.”

Liam Lawson’s nightmare Red Bull stint

It’s been a torrid two races for Lawson as a Red Bull driver.

In Australia, Lawson lacked pace all weekend and was eliminated in Q1.

In tricky conditions, Lawson was one of the drivers to crash out of the race, bringing an end to a disappointing season-opener.

Things didn’t improve in China, with Lawson qualifying 20th for the sprint race.

While he made some progress in the race, it was a clumsy recovery to 14th in the final order.

Lawson qualified last again in qualifying for the grand prix.

His final result of 12th in the race was only due to the two Ferraris and Pierre Gasly being disqualified.