'Not good enough': Red Bull supremo Helmut Marko's blunt Liam Lawson admission
Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko conceded the team "made a mistake" in putting Liam Lawson in the second seat alongside Max Verstappen.
After two disastrous races in Melbourne and Shanghai, the team confirmed this week Lawson would be demoted back to Racing Bulls effective immediately.
Yuki Tsunoda has been promoted into the seat, and will make his debut at his home Japanese Grand Prix.
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Red Bull 'made a mistake' in putting Liam Lawson alongside Max Verstappen. LAT Images
Speaking to the BBC, Marko said Lawson had "lost confidence and he couldn't show his real potential".
"His performance was unfortunately not good enough and that comes from self-confidence," he said.
When asked why Tsunoda wasn't given the job in the first place, Marko said the 161cm pocket rocket had "made a big step".
"It's strange after four years, now in his fifth year, he is a much stronger personality, he has more confidence and he did two very good races, it's just his strategy didn't work at Racing Bulls," he explained.
"In this case, a very difficult car experience is something that will help. That was our thoughts."
Lawson had never driven in either Melbourne or Shanghai. Marko said the team decided against giving Lawson one more race at Suzuka, a track he knows well having spent a year racing in Japanese Super Formula, Marko said the team was worried "his self-confidence is so damaged that he couldn't bring his normal performance".
He also insisted the move isn't a demotion, and pointed to Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon as examples of drivers booted from the senior team who managed to rebuild their career.
"He's not kicked out of F1 and Racing Bulls will give him the chance to recover and his career will start again," Marko said.
"For the benefit for him, he goes back to Racing Bulls, which has a car capable to be top 10 in qualifying and the race.
"Just look in the past, it was [Pierre] Gasly, it happened the same, also to [Alex] Albon and they recovered and they are now competitive F1 drivers.
"On top of it, the RB21 is a car which is not the fastest car but nevertheless very difficult to drive and Max can handle but not at this stage Liam."
The Japanese Grand Prix will be held Sunday week.
