F1 Today: McLaren gets new co-owner, Tsunoda talks about Marko calling him and Lawson's tells all

At the Thursday press conference, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda discussed their experiences with their seat swap while Charles Leclerc talked about Ferrari’s recent performance. McLaren has also announced a new co-ownership.

McLaren has new co-ownership with CYVN Holdings

McLaren has announced that CYVN Holdings has bought Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company’s share of McLaren Automotive. The company will also hold a minority stake in McLaren Racing. CEO of McLaren Racing Zak Brown said, “McLaren Racing has been on an incredible growth trajectory over the past few years as we made our way back to the front of the grid, where this storied team belongs. We’re in rude health and incredibly excited about the future – our sport has never been in a better place. The completion of the deal and investment in the wider business will allow us to continue on that growth path going forward.”

Tsunoda on Marko’s phone calls 

During the press conference, Tsunoda mentioned how unusual it was to not have been contacted by Dr. Helmut Marko. He said, “Surprisingly, he didn’t call me yet. Very unusual. Not sure – maybe he was busy with other things. I can’t wait to see him and see how he’s going to react to me. It’s very unusual. From F3, F2, F1 – he’s always been calling me. But this is the only time he didn’t. I’m sure there’s not nothing from his side. Even in the last few races, we’ve still had a good relationship. We didn’t have any moments between us. So let’s see how he arrives at the track and we’ll see him in person.'

After the press conference, Chris Medland revealed that Marko had actually tried to call Tsunoda. Unfortunately for Tsunoda, he did not see that Marko tried to call him until after the press conference.

Yuki Tsunoda at the Japanese Grand Prix Press Conference 

Lawson on seat swap: ‘I had no idea’

In the same press conference, Lawson said he had no clue he was being demoted to Racing Bulls. He said, “I had no idea in China. It was something that was decided, I guess, the Monday or Tuesday afterwards. I found out after China basically. It was, for all of us, probably more unexpected. But it was after the weekend.”

He admitted, “It was more of a done deal, I would say. I left China, started preparations for Japan, and basically I had a phone call saying that this was what was going to happen.”

Lawson had two starts with Red Bull Racing and 11 with Racing Bulls.

Leclerc on Ferrari’s performance 

Ferrari is looking for better performances in the upcoming races after facing a double disqualification at the Chinese Grand Prix. Earlier, Charles Leclerc said, "If we go back to last year, looking at the first few races, the situation in terms of performance was quite a bit worse than where we are now. We kind of expected Red Bull to dominate the whole season, and by taking the points that were available at the beginning of the season with the performance we had, we ended up actually fighting for the championship, which was way above our expectations. “

Ferrari ended P2 in the constructors championship last season, but currently only sits in 5th place right now. Leclerc also said, “However, we do feel we haven’t maximized what we could have in the first two races, and that’s frustrating. But it doesn’t mean we cannot recover. The season is still very long. Small steps after small steps – we can still have an amazing season.”

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