Marko concedes Red Bull made mistake: 'Lawson got into a downward spiral'

Red Bull Racing motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has conceded the team made the wrong choice by promoting Liam Lawson to partner Max Verstappen after the Kiwi was dropped after just two races.

Lawson was chosen as Sergio Perez's replacement after impressing in 11 substitute appearances with the sister team across two seasons, getting the nod ahead of Yuki Tsunoda.

But after crashing out of the race in difficult conditions at the Australian Grand Prix, the sprint weekend at the Shanghai International Circuit went from bad to worse for Lawson as he qualified last for both sprint and grand prix.

With Red Bull swapping Lawson and Tsunoda ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, Marko told OE24: "Yuki was not consistent enough. That's why we unanimously chose Lawson.

"Under the greater pressure, he [Lawson] was unable to deliver the performance, and that from day one in Australia. "After that, he went into a downward spiral. It's like a boxer who has taken a punch and then can't recover from it. It's hard to get out of that.

"In that sense it was a mistake."

Tsunoda will make his debut for Red Bull in front of his adoring home support at Suzuka next weekend, with the plan to remain alongside Verstappen for the remainder of the season.

This article was written in collaboration with Nicole Mulder.

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