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Horner protects Lawson, but refuses to give him a guarantee
After having to answer about Sergio Perez's future for nearly an entire season, Christian Horner is faced with the same set of questions, just about Liam Lawson. Two weekends in a row, Liam Lawson could be found towards the back of the order, and the first rumours already began about him might being already replaced in Suzuka.
The Red Bull team principal remained composed when talking to the media in the paddock. "I think there's always going to be speculation in the paddock, as I say we've only just finished the race here, we'll take away the info and have a good look at it," was what the Briton said first.
Top advisor Helmut Marko reportedly said that a conversation about whether the driver from New Zealander can remain will take place next week. About that, Horner said: "There's nothing specific that's been set up."
He then reiterated: "I think everything is purely speculative at the moment. So, as I said, we've just finished this race. We're going to take away the info and have a good look at it."
What does Lawson need to be close to Verstappen's confidence level?
In the case that Red Bull would decide to make a substitution, Lawson would be the fourth driver in a row to be let go because of their performance. Horner has previously explained on multiple occasions that being Max Verstappen's teammate is one of the hardest jobs in Formula 1, but also underlined that the second driver not living up to expectations was not only the case in this time period.
"I think that, let's remember that Checo finished second in the World Championship two years ago," he said.
"The car is difficult to drive and Max is able to adjust to that. Liam is, obviously confidence-wise, he's struggling with the car at the moment, which is why we made some significant changes today to see if we can find a more confidence inspiring setup for him."
Horner also added that he is not giving up on the New Zealander, as they working towards helping the driver be more confident. "I think Liam still has got potential, we're just not realising that at the moment. I think the problem for him is, he's had a couple of really tough weekends. He's got all the media on his back. The pressure just naturally grows in this business and I feel very sorry for him that he's…, you can see it's very tough on him at the moment."
Would Lawson be faster with an 'easier' Racing Bulls car?
Previously, Max Verstappen has said that Lawson could push harder in a Racing Bulls' car. Horner explained that their concept is indeed easier to be driven, but as a result, it is also slower. "If I think back to the beginning of ‘22, we had quite a stable car, but with quite a bit of understeer that was in it, which obviously Max hates. And we had an upgrade in Spain where we put a lot more front into the car and Max made a big step forward."
"Checo, sort of nose-dived from that point. So you've got to produce the quickest car and you're driven by the information that you have and the data that you have. That's as a team, we don't set out to make a car driver-centric," Horner explained, mentioning the fact that Red Bull's aim is to work towards building the fastest car possible.
This article was written in collaboration with Ludo van Denderen
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