Lawson Reveals TERRIBLE Red Bull Treatment That Lead To DEMOTION!.

Red Bull's driver situation this season has been a big problem. Max Verstappen has done his best in a car that is clearly not up to the standards Red Bull set in 2023, but his teammates have found it impossible to replicate his performances. Yuki Tsunoda did manage to score some points early on, but since his last points finish in his fifth race for Red Bull, he's had an average finishing position of 15th. That clearly isn't good enough for a top team, but who knows at this point how much of that is Red Bull's car just being really bad and Max Verstappen massively outperforming it? What Tsunoda's disappointing results have done is put Liam Lawson's performances into some perspective. The Kiwi driver was demoted by Red Bull after just two races, and has now spoken out about how badly he was treated by the team. Today, I'll check that out and contrast it with Mercedes' handling of Andrea Chimi Antonelli, so don't go anywhere. When Liam Lawson was promoted to Red Bull for the 2025 season, it caught many people by surprise. The New Zealand driver had done just 11 races for the racing bulls in 2023 and 2024, during which time he performed worse than his teammate Yuki Tsunoda. Tsunoda was the far more experienced option as well. He had four seasons at Red Bull's second team under his belt, and while they may not have believed that he was the right person for the long-term future of the team, he at least had the experience to handle the pressure of a big team. Lawson was always going to struggle at Red Bull. Perez had been very outspoken about the lack of quality of Red Bull's car in 2024 and how difficult it was to drive. Lawson's two races at Red Bull just proved how true that was. By giving him that seat at the top team, Red Bull set him up to fail, and Lawson thinks the team wanted to replace him as soon as they promoted him. He made his debut as a full-time Red Bull driver in Australia, qualifying 18th before crashing out of the race. He was one of many rookies to struggle in the terrible conditions in Melbourne that weekend. Two weeks later in China, he qualified last and finished outside the points, with a performance which appeared to show that he couldn't handle the car at all. He was immediately replaced by Yuki Tsunoda in a straight swap with the racing bulls team, giving Tsunoda the chance to drive at Red Bull for his home Grand Prix at Suzuka. Red Bull never appeared committed to Liam, and he backed that up in a recent interview. He said he arrived in 2025 with far less preparation than other young drivers, who received plenty of private practice to help them settle into their new teams. If you look at how other teams have approached bringing a young driver in, and you look at the test days, the time in the seat, the amount of testing that, for example, Kimi Antonelli has done in the past before racing this year, we didn't do any of that, he said. It was two weekends on two tracks I'd never raced at, one of them being a sprint weekend. They weren't smooth weekends. We had issues in Bahrain testing with reliability. We had issues in Melbourne with reliability. Obviously, it should be pointed out that Liam had already done 11 races with the racing bulls over two seasons. He may not have done much testing in a Red Bull car, but he knew his way around an F1 car and will have had plenty of time in the Red Bull factory. Nonetheless, Lawson is right. Two weekends at two tracks he had never driven before is a tough way to start your F1 career. However, it is how Red Bull treated him during those two races that really upset the young driver. In China, Red Bull opted to pursue an aggressive setup change in search of answers for the car's tricky handling characteristics, a choice Lawson said was meant to help him in the long term. In China, we took a shot in the dark with a setup to try and learn something, he said. For me, I was under the understanding that it was to help me develop for the future, to have an understanding of the car. So, I was happy to drive with this sort of setup. That performance was then used to demote me from the team, basically. In a car that was so difficult to drive as it was, and a car that Liam was only just getting used to, for the team to make massive setup changes with very little backing, a shot in the dark as Liam says, all that will have done is completely erode any confidence he may have had, any comfort he might have gained in the car will have been completely taken away with the new setup, and to then use that poor performance, and it did look like Liam really struggled with the car in China, that is brutal even by Red Bull's standards. While Lawson says the machinery played a part, he does accept his own performances fell short. There were a few things over that time that made it not smooth, he said. It wasn't a clean couple of weekends, and by my own standards, they weren't good enough. I was obviously trying as hard as I could, and I was trying to get up to speed as quickly as I could. As much as I look back now and go, what could I have done better? There are obviously things you look back in hindsight and go, I wish I'd done this differently to try and help me. If I knew I was going to get two races, I would probably have done things slightly differently, but I didn't at the time. I was maybe a bit naive, but I thought I was going to get longer and have time to learn. Fortunately for Liam, losing his place at Red Bull was probably the best thing that could have happened to him for his F1 career. An entire season at Red Bull, which probably would have ended pointless, would have shattered his confidence and completely destroyed any interest in him that other teams may have had. Since returning to the racing bulls, Lawson has worked his way back into form. After a slow start, he's scored points in three of the last four Grands Prix and four of the last seven overall, taking his season total to 20, 10 more than Tsunoda has managed in the senior Red Bull, while also outscoring his racing bulls teammate Isaac Hajjar over those seven races. Lawson was obviously never as bad a driver as those two races at Red Bull made him seem, and the handling of his career by Red Bull has definitely not helped. It is such a contrast to how Mercedes have handled their rookie Andrea Chimiantanelli. But before I talk about that, if you're enjoying the video and want to catch more news and analysis on this F1 season, then make sure to press the like button and subscribe to F1 Reverse. Thanks a lot. Andrea Chimiantanelli has had an interesting first season in F1. The young Italian was incredibly highly rated by Mercedes. In fact, part of the reason Mercedes wouldn't give Hamilton the long-term contract extension he wanted was because Mercedes wanted to make sure they had a seat for Antonelli when he was ready for it. Hamilton jumping ship for Ferrari because of that short-term contract may have expedited the young Italian's ascent to F1, but he hasn't looked out of place. Five points finishes in his first six races was an outstanding way to start his F1 career. Then Mercedes fitted some upgrades which completely destroyed both drivers' confidence in the car. In the following seven races, Antonelli failed to score points six times, but scored a stunning first podium in Canada, a track which Mercedes' car completely suited. His drop-off in form over those seven races was mirrored by George Russell, who went from a regular podium finisher to having to fight hard for top five finishers. Antonelli had the luxury of plenty of preparation time with Mercedes. While his Formula 2 campaign had been somewhat subdued in 2024, he was put through a rigorous preparation programme of testing previous cars, something that Lawson pointed out he wasn't given. Antonelli has shown flashes of magic that have underlined why Mercedes has such faith in him, with a maiden pole position in the sprint event in Miami, that third place in Canada, and, perhaps his most impressive drive of all, finishing in fourth place in the season opener in Australia on a day of tricky mixed conditions. However, that run of bad results made Antonelli really question himself. It destroyed his self-confidence and could have led to him spiralling into a bad place, but Mercedes' support got him through. Mercedes understood they have a responsibility to their rookie driver, to help him through that tough time. I think every human being responds positively to knowing they have the support of their team, and the belief of their team. And you know that that group has faith in them, Mercedes team representative Bradley Lord said. That doesn't stop honest conversations if things are not hitting objectives and things like that. I'm not saying that's the case with Kimi, just talking in general terms. But yeah, every human responds to that sort of positive feeling of support, and being part of a team, and being part of a collective endeavour. It is such a contrast from how Red Bull have handled their young drivers over the years. At Red Bull, it is every driver for themselves. You either succeed or get cut. It is a strategy that has been questioned time and again over the years, and it is a strategy that caused Lawson to get demoted. Addressing how Antonelli's season has played out so far, Lord said the key focus for the team is in giving him a car in which he can feel confident to thrive, knowing that the car itself has caused problems for both him and Russell. We know that a rookie season has ups and downs, and it's full of learning. That's going to be the positive learnings and the positive surprises, and also the more difficult moments, he said. It's certainly true that Kimi, as one would expect where the car has become more difficult, both drivers were lacking confidence in the ability to commit to the corner with the car. That has been a struggle for him as well, has cost him confidence, and the step backwards in performance that we've seen has meant that we were more vulnerable to those early exits and qualifying things than was the case earlier in the season. Bradley goes on to say that the team take full responsibility for Antonelli's drop in performance. They know it was their fault. They supported their driver, helped him through it, and didn't judge his performances unfairly during that time. Perhaps Red Bull could learn something from Mercedes' handling of their junior drivers. What do you think of Lawson's attack on Red Bull, and what have you thought of Antonelli's first season? Let me know in the comments down below, and until next time, drive safe, and bye for now.