Guenther Steiner makes his feelings known about Liam Lawson struggling to keep his seat at Red Bull

Former F1 team principal Guenther Steiner is of the opinion that Liam Lawson himself is responsible for the situation he currently finds himself in at Red Bull. The Kiwi made his debut with the team early in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

While the driver did not have much race experience at the time, not many could have predicted the situation he found himself in after the first couple of races. The New Zealander had a horror show in Australia where he was eliminated in Q1 and then crashed out on Sunday. In China, things didn't improve much as once again the Kiwi couldn't make it out of Q1 in either sprint or Grand Prix qualifying.

As a result, the pressure was already on the driver, and ultimately Red Bull has decided to swap him with Yuki Tsunoda. The Kiwi would now be back at Racing Bulls alongside Isack Hadjar. On the Red Flags podcast, Guenther Steiner was questioned about his views on the entire situation.

According to former Haas team principal, this was a Liam Lawson problem, as you cannot be this far off your teammate. He said,

"I think it's a Liam Lawson problem. If you're half a second slower than your teammate, you're already a lot slower. But more than a second, that's quite a difference. I don't know what's causing it, because Lawson did well in Racing Bulls when he was put there, he did respectably. So no problem. But at Red Bull he just can't do it. Maybe he puts too much pressure on himself? Maybe that's it, just too much pressure."

Liam Lawson gets replaced by Yuki Tsunoda at Red Bull

Soon after the pod was recorded, Lawson was officially replaced by Yuki Tsunoda at Red Bull. In the team's press release, Christian Horner emphasized that the key reason behind such a call being made was to have the Japanese driver in the team and use his experience to develop the current car. He said,

"It has been difficult to see Liam struggle with the RB21 at the first two races and as a result we have collectively taken the decision to make an early switch. We came into the 2025 season, with two ambitions, to retain the World Drivers' Championship and to reclaim the World Constructors' title and this is a purely sporting decision. We acknowledge there is a lot of work to be done with the RB21 and Yuki’s experience will prove highly beneficial in helping to develop the current car.”

After getting replaced with just 2 races in the bag, Liam Lawson has now had the shortest tenure as a Red Bull driver in F1 history. He would be racing for sister team Racing Bulls in Suzuka.