Ex-IndyCar driver intensely defends Liam Lawson amid Helmut Marko's upsetting exit admission

Former IndyCar driver Hunter McElrea recently defended Liam Lawson's underwhelming performance in the first couple of F1 races amid rumors of a premature Red Bull exit.

Liam Lawson replaced the outgoing Sergio Perez at Red Bull Racing for the 2025 F1 season as the Mexican wasn't performing up to the level, and was arguably the reason why Red Bull lost the Constructors' championship. However, the Kiwi driver hasn't had a great start to his Red Bull F1 career with disappointing results in the first two races.

Liam Lawson faced exit in the Q1 session in Melbourne and crashed out of the race on Sunday. The Chinese GP weekend again started with a poor result in Sprint qualifying where the Kiwi finished dead last and P14 in Saturday's race. During the qualifying session for the main race, Lawson again finished in P20, which sparked a response from Helmut Marko, a senior advisor at Red Bull.

F1 Grand Prix Of China - Sprint & Qualifying - Source: Getty

With rumors of Liam Lawson getting swapped mid-season with another Red Bull driver, Helmut Marko came out and detailed Lawson’s poor performance. He said,

“This is not what we expected. We will discuss it calmly. We still have a few drivers among them [Red Bull’s junior academy] who can recommend themselves.”

When questioned whether Red Bull would swap the Kiwi driver mid-season if the poor performance persisted, he replied,

“Formula 1 is a competitive sport. Ultimately, that’s what counts.”

Amid the rumors of Lawson's exit, Ex-IndyCar driver Hunter McElrea defended the fellow countryman by uploading a tweet on March 22, after the Chinese GP qualifying session. He wrote,

“Lawson is still a big talent and didn’t wake up one day and forget how to drive. 🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿 #f1”

Hunter McElrea raced in the junior American open-wheel racing series before making his IndyCar debut last year with Dale Coyne Racing. He made his debut at the 2024 Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto and retired from the race. That was the only IndyCar race that McElrea raced in.

The Kiwi raced with Andretti Global in the Indy NXT series from 2022-2023 and finished as the runner-up in 2023. The former IndyCar driver currently competes in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar championship for TDS Racing in the LMP2 class.

When Red Bull explored the possibility of signing IndyCar star Colton Herta

Back in 2022, Red Bull was reportedly in conversation with IndyCar driver Colton Herta to make a switch to F1 and join the junior Red Bull team, Racing Bulls (then AlphaTauri) for the 2023 season. With Pierre Gasly moving to Alpine, the Italian team was in search of a suitable replacement.

AUTO: AUG 27 INDYCAR Bommarito Automotive Group 500 - Source: Getty

However, the move was called off as the American didn't have enough super license points to qualify and drive in F1. Even if Red Bull asked FIA to make an exemption, which would then be rejected, it would've left both the driver and the team stranded in the off-season. Speaking about Herta's probable move to F1, Helmut Marko said in 2022, (via Motorsport)

“It's a shame that people don't realize what value an American driver, especially a guy like Colton Herta, would have for the booming American market, especially with three F1 races.”

Red Bull decided to go against Herta and signed Nyck de Vries for the 2023 season.