Christian Horner breaks silence on Red Bull firing Liam Lawson

Red Bull boss Christian Horner has finally spoken up about the team firing Liam Lawson, expressing that the squad asked too much of the Kiwi too soon. Lawson was promoted from the sister team as a replacement for Sergio Perez ahead of the 2025 season.

Lawson only had 11 races in the bag across two seasons and was picked over Yuki Tsunoda as Max Verstappen's teammate at Red Bull. The decision, however, got off to a rocky start in Melbourne as Lawson was unable to make his way out of Q1 in the first race of the season in the RB21, which is being touted as a difficult car to handle.

Things continued to get worse for Lawson in China, where he was P20 in both qualifying of the sprint and Grand Prix. As a result, he was replaced by Red Bull for the race in Japan. The decision raised several questions, with one question being the timing of Lawson being demoted to Racing Bulls, as many experts felt it was too early in the season to replace him.

Talking to Sky Sports in an exclusive on Wednesday, Horner gave his take on Liam Lawson being fired from Red Bull and felt the 23-year-old was pushed into the deep end too early.

"Of course, it's horrible because you're taking away someone's dreams and aspirations, but sometimes you've got to be cruel to be kind, and I think that in this instance, this is not the end for Liam," Horner said.

Horner also revealed his conversation with the young Kiwi and backed him to bounce back.

"I was very clear with him, is that it's a sample of two races. I think that we've asked too much of you too soon. We have to accept, I think we were asking too much of him too soon. And so this is for him to, again, nurture that talent that we know that he has, back in the Racing Bulls seat, whilst giving Yuki the opportunity and looking to make use of the experience that he has."

Following Lawson's departure, the team announced on March 27 that the Kiwi would be replaced by Yuki Tsunoda, who will make his debut for them at his home Grand Prix this weekend.

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Red Bull boss expecting Liam Lawson to 'rebuild himself' at Racing Bulls

Christian Horner admitted Red Bull didn't have enough time to wait for Liam Lawson to adapt to the machinery and deliver performances that were expected by the Austrian outfit. On the contrary, the 51-year-old felt that following Lawson's dismissal, Yuki Tsunoda was better suited to help the team develop the current car while the Kiwi rebuilds himself.

"We've got work to do with the car," Christian Horner said. "We need to improve the car. We need to draw on the experience that Yuki has. And in the meantime, you (Lawson) need to go and rebuild yourself in the Racing Bulls, in an environment that you know and is perhaps slightly less pressured than Red Bull Racing."

From the Japanese GP onwards, Liam Lawson would be racing for Racing Bulls while Yuki Tsunoda races for the senior team alongside Max Verstappen.