Red Bull told it would be "silly" not to give Liam Lawson Japan chance

Former racing driver Billy Monger says it would be “silly” of Red Bull to drop Liam Lawson ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, given his familiarity with the Suzuka circuit.

Red Bull have reportedly settled on a decision to replace Lawson with Yuki Tsunoda after just two races.

However, they have made no official comment yet.

Rumours surfaced following Lawson’s disappointing performance at the Chinese Grand Prix.

During his two Red Bull outings, Lawson failed to make it out of Q1 in qualifying and didn’t look like scoring points.

While the Red Bull isn’t able to win races on merit at the moment, even in the hands of Max Verstappen, Lawson is underperforming.

Red Bull had an emergency meeting to discuss their troublesome start to the year, where Lawson was reportedly ditched.

Red Bull aren’t afraid to make brutal decisions, binning off Nyck de Vries after 10 races in 2023 at AlphaTauri.

Similarly, Pierre Gasly was demoted back to Toro Rosso after 12 races with Red Bull in 2019.

Monger, a Channel 4 F1 pundit, feels that Lawson deserves the chance to race in Japan because he knows the circuit well, unlike Australia and China.

“It’s so hard to imagine especially with all the effort from the team’s side to Checo, Sergio Perez, who was under contract before they got Liam Lawson into replace him and had to negotiate his exit early,” he told Sky Sports News.

“There was a lot of effort made by Red Bull as a team to bring Liam Lawson into that seat alongside Max Verstappen. So, to think after two race weekend they are already looking at his fuutre.

“I mean, it’s hard to comprehend but equally Liam knows that the performances he’s put in so far haven’t been good enough in comparison to where Max is. Max

Verstappen has been right up there in the top five minimum and Liam hasn’t got out of Q1 yet. He’s got a lot of work to do.

“The next race is in Japan - and it’s a circuit he knows really well. From my perspective, I think it would be silly not to give him that opportunity in Japan.”

“Too much pressure for Tsunoda”

Tsunoda would be Lawson’s replacement if Red Bull decide to make a change.

Tsunoda has impressed at Racing Bulls during the opening two races, consistently qualifying in the top 10.

Without strategy blunders, Tsunoda would have more than three points to his name.

However, Monger thinks that Japan being Tsunoda’s first race as a Red Bull driver could bring additional pressure.

“And also, if you put Yuki Tsunoda in for Japan, he’s a Japanese driver and has enough pressure on his shoulders," he added. "It could be too much pressure for him to handle as well.”