Guenther Steiner identifies reason for Liam Lawson struggle at Red Bull

Former Haas Formula 1 boss Guenther Steiner believes Liam Lawson suffered a disastrous start to the 2025 season because he couldn’t handle the pressure of being a Red Bull driver.

Lawson struggled so much with the RB21 in Australia and China that Red Bull made a dramatic decision to replace him with Yuki Tsunoda for the remainder of the season.

The energy drinks giant had high hopes from the Kiwi after he performed well during 11 appearances with AlphaTauri/RB in 2023/24, but he qualified 19th for the season opener in Australia and then crashed out of the main race in wet conditions.

With Lawson showing little progress in China, where he set the slowest time in both qualifying sessions and finished a distant 12th in the race, the management concluded that he needed to spend more time at Racing Bulls.

While the RB21 has proved to be an incredibly difficult car to drive, the 23-year-old was over a second slower than teammate Max Verstappen in Melbourne qualifying and 0.75s down on the Dutchman in Q1 at Melbourne.

Steiner thinks Lawson underperformed in the opening two rounds of the season because he put too much pressure on himself after joining Red Bull, citing his previous F1 record in the midfield as proof that he is capable of producing solid results.

“If Liam Lawson would be going consistently in Q2 or sometimes Q3, [then it would be a different story],” Steiner told The Red Flags Podcast. “It's only three qualifyings, but he never made it out of Q1. And the other guy [Verstappen] is always in the top four. It's weird.

“He cannot beat [Verstappen], it's fully understandable, but he is a second slower. A second.

“When Checo was there last year, when he was a half a second off, we were all devastated, ‘How can he be half a second off?'

He added: “I think it is a Liam Lawson problem. If you are half a second slower than your teammate, you are already a lot slower, but being over a second, it's a [huge] difference.

“I don't know what is [at the root of the issue] because when they put Liam Lawson put in the Racing Bulls, he did a good job - he did a respectable job. So no issue there.

“But going in there [Red Bull], he just cannot do it. Maybe he put too much pressure on himself. Maybe that's what it is - too much pressure.”

Lawson had never raced at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne before 2025, while his only experience at the Shanghai International Circuit came during an Asian F3 campaign in 2018.

Moreover, the Australian GP was heavily affected by rain, while the China weekend ran to the sprint format, restricting drivers to a single practice session on Friday.

Steiner believes Red Bull should have waited until the Japanese GP before making a decision, as Lawson has recent experience driving at Suzuka in both F1 and Super Formula machinery.

“He has never raced in Australia, never raced in China, but let him go to Japan,” said Steiner.

“He knows the race track, at least you know how good he is. There is not that excuse anymore, or that unknown. He knows Suzuka. He drove there in Super Formula which are very fast cars.

“If he can do it there, at least he has got the hope. If he doesn't get it done in Japan, it's time to change.”

High expectations from Tsunoda

After Red Bull decided to cancel Sergio Perez’s contract at the end of last year due to poor results, it faced a choice between Lawson and Tsunoda for 2025.

Lawson was initially given the nod despite his limited experience in F1, but Red Bull has now decided to give Tsunoda a chance at its flagship team.

Steiner believes Tsunoda could be on the pace straight away at Red Bull, having been impressed by how he has matured as a driver after a clumsy start to his grand prix career in 2021

“I think he will take it into Q3,” Steiner said of Tsunoda. “Yuki at the moment is doing good. He is doing very good in my opinion.

“Yuki was at the beginning a little bit of a mess, to say the least. But now I think he has got his act together, he is quick, and consistent. In the last races there was always an issue. In Australia and China, there were strategy issues and in China the wing broke.

“Then you also find how good Yuki Tsunoda is in a Red Bull. At the moment it doesn't seem like he is at Red Bull next year, but if he is doing a good job there next year, maybe he will be there. Give him the chance, you have nothing to lose.”