Liam Lawson admits shock at Red Bull axe as Christian Horner makes 'horrible' admission

Liam Lawson has admitted that he did not see coming and was completely blindsided by . was replaced with as the number two driver just two races into the season.

The Kiwi was dramatically ditched after failing to score a single point in the opening races of the season in and China. He struggled with the RB21 and was swiftly demoted to junior team Racing Bulls just over three months after beating the more experienced Tsunoda to the job.

Speaking ahead of the this weekend, the 23-year-old explained what happened from his point of view. “It was definitely a shock, honestly. It's not something that I saw coming,” he told .

“The discussions we were having as well, I think, weren't really leaning in this direction, so it was definitely not something that I sort of expected.”

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Asked whether he was frustrated at the lack of time he was given, Lawson replied: "Honestly, yes. Obviously, I would have loved more time. And I felt like with more time, especially going to places that I'd been before… it was a tough start. We had a rocky testing. We had a rocky first weekend in Melbourne with practice. And then obviously China was a Sprint.

"I think going to places that I'd been before with the way the car was quite tricky, I think that would have helped and I would have loved that opportunity. But obviously, it's not my decision, so I'm here to make the most of this one."

Team principal Horner was the man to make the call to change things up so early into the 2025 season. He says he did so after speaking to the Red Bull engineers, who suggested Lawson was out of his depth and the difficulties couldn’t be rectified quickly.

"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.

"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.

"I think with everything that we saw in Australia and China, you could see that it was really affecting Liam quite badly. We could have left it, and I think that Liam is a driver with talent. Maybe within half a season he would have got there, but we just don't have that amount of time.

"It was something that was very clear to the engineering side within the team, just how much Liam was struggling with it all, and you could see that weight upon his shoulders. The engineers were coming to me very concerned about it, and at the end of the day, I think it was the logical thing to do."