Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko says a decision on Liam Lawson’s future will be made public next month amid current stability within the organization’s driver program.
Sergio Perez had been under pressure heading into the summer break and it appeared he could be replaced during the shutdown, but a meeting including Marko and team principal Christian Horner led to a decision to stick with Perez. That meant no promotion for Daniel Ricciardo or Yuki Tsunoda — moves that would have opened up a seat for Lawson (pictured above) — but Marko says the New Zealander’s future will be resolved soon.
“It’s a tough time for someone like Liam, especially as he jumped into the car under very, very difficult circumstances and did very well [last season],” Marko told ESPN. “We rate him high and he will get his chance. Just wait. September, you will have an answer.
“Daniel was put in the car and if he would have been significantly faster than Yuki there was an idea to bring him back to Red Bull Racing. But he also had this up and down [form]. So, so far, he didn’t fulfill the criteria to be a Red Bull Racing driver.”
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Marko also explained why Red Bull decided to continue with Perez despite a poor run of performances, saying it is down to the team to provide him with a car that he can produce more consistent form in, rather than blame the driver himself.
“We believe that we can turn it round and make it more stable for him. To be teammate to Max [Verstappen] is not the nicest thing in Formula 1. Checo has his merits — he’s won races.
“Our discussion was not just about drivers, it was regular discussions we had of, ‘What can we do to improve the situation?’ We have to try to make the car more easy to drive.
“The more difficult the car is to drive, the more the difference to Max comes out because he’s such an outstanding talent. If the rear steps out he won’t lift the throttle, he’s just, ‘Yeah, it’s a little bit nervous.’ Checo says it’s difficult or it’s undriveable.
“To be next to Max is a different story. So we said let’s try to make the car more easy to drive, get more balance — which is also something Max wants — and the best thing is to keep going with Checo. The main problem was this up and down. He had some very good results, very good performances, then the next day he was half a second or so off Max.”