How F1 drivers reacted to Tsunoda, Lawson swap

Lewis Hamilton believes it was “pretty tough” on Liam Lawson to be dropped by Red Bull after just two races – but said he was not surprised to see the team act so swiftly.

Lawson struggled to get to grips with the RB21 in both the Australian and Chinese grands prix and was ultimately demoted back to Racing Bulls as a result, with Yuki Tsunoda swapped in to replace the New Zealander.

The controversial decision was the talk of the paddock at Suzuka on Thursday, with seven-time world champion Hamilton among those to offer their take on the situation.

“I’m not surprised to see them move that early, no,” he stressed when asked if the call to make the swap had caught him unaware.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

“Both great drivers. I think we’ve got a lot of really great drivers here, particularly young, talented drivers.

“I think there’s naturally a lot of pressure on youngsters coming in and I think there’s no way you can get fully on top of a car which is known to be not the easiest car to necessarily drive. Just to get in two races was pretty tough.”

Tsunoda will now step in at Red Bull to join reigning champion Max Verstappen, whose tight-lipped thoughts on the situation were nonetheless meaningful.

Two other drivers who have been in a similar situation to Lawson offered their backing, with both Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly having been let go by Red Bull in the past.

“I think that it’s not a career-ender for Liam at all,” Williams driver Albon said. “It’s how you use this opportunity. He’s still young. He’s still inexperienced.

“I know Liam. I obviously raced against him in DTM. I know how quick he is and how quick he was in that series. I think he’ll bounce back, and he’ll be just fine.

“You feel for Liam to a certain point. And I do think that it was a tough start. I think the season as a whole has become so tight now that you can’t have these races where you’re six, seven tenths off. You can’t afford to be that slow.

“And I think it’s just a difficult circumstance for him. It’s the final year of regulations where the cars have been optimised for their teams, for their drivers.”

Gasly, meanwhile, said: “I wish Liam all the best. I can obviously relate to some things, and I wish Yuki all the best. I think it’s very difficult to judge anything from the outside.

Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls, Pierre Gasly, Alpine

Photo by: Clive Rose / Getty Images

“I think only Liam can know his situation and know all the details from it, and [people have] just got to respect that we’re trying our best with the tools we have.

“I’ve got no doubts that both of them are going to do really well, but yeah it’s not really for me [to comment on] because you never really know what’s going on.”

Lawson is one of six rookies on the grid this season, and it was actually the future of fellow ‘newcomer’ Jack Doohan that was the cause for speculation before the start of the year, with Alpine signing Franco Colapinto to a reserve driver deal.

“You know, I had rumours that I wasn’t even going to drive before I drove,” Doohan said.

“I think [Lawson] is an extremely, extremely talented driver. And for one reason or another has had a very hard time. But again, only two races. So it’s a shame. But I think, to be honest, it’s going to be more of a threat at RB than it potentially was at Red Bull.

“It’s a cutthroat sport, and especially in that situation, I don’t want to comment too much on it. But in a top team especially. This is Formula 1. It’s a business where they rely on performances and results. But, you know, he was in a very, very tricky situation and we know how tough that Red Bull is to drive.”

Photos from Japanese GP – Thursday