Marko’s Ultimatum: Lawson Faces Five-Race Deadline to Prove His Worth at Red Bull
Shanghai, March 22, 2025 – The Chinese Grand Prix weekend kicked off with a bang as Lewis Hamilton stunned the Formula 1 world by snagging pole for the Sprint race, a stark contrast to his P10 finish in Australia. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen’s P2 grid slot sets the stage for an electrifying front-row showdown. But while Verstappen continues to shine, his new Red Bull teammate, Liam Lawson, is floundering at the opposite end of the grid—starting a dismal 18 places behind in P20. Just two races into his full-time F1 career, Lawson’s rocky start has tongues wagging and pressure mounting. Red Bull’s motorsport adviser, Helmut Marko, has now issued a chilling ultimatum: Lawson has just five races to turn things around or risk his future with the team.
Lawson’s debut season couldn’t have begun on a worse note. In Australia, he spun out with 12 laps to go, capping a weekend where qualifying mistakes saw him knocked out in Q1. Hoping to hit reset in Shanghai, the New Zealander instead repeated the nightmare. A deleted lap time and struggles with tire pressures left him dead last in Sprint Qualifying, over eight-tenths slower than Verstappen and trailing even the struggling Haas cars. “It’s been as bad a start as it could be,” Lawson admitted, reflecting on a weekend that’s seen him unable to find grip or confidence in the Red Bull RB21. With 11 prior races under his belt at AlphaTauri (now Racing Bulls), he’s no stranger to F1, yet the step up to Red Bull has exposed glaring weaknesses.
Marko, never one to mince words, didn’t hold back after Australia. “He wanted to show what he could do, and unfortunately that went wrong,” he said, adding that Lawson’s development will be judged over “the first three to five races.” Last place in China’s Sprint Qualifying won’t ease the scrutiny. Lawson’s mission now? Find comfort in a car that’s visibly unsettled him and claw his way up the grid in Saturday’s Sprint race. But the clock is ticking, and Red Bull’s history of ruthlessly axing underperforming teammates—like Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, and Sergio Perez—looms large.
The pressure isn’t just internal. McLaren’s Zak Brown fired a psychological shot post-Australia, suggesting Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda, who outqualified Lawson by 13 places in Melbourne and starts P8 in China’s Sprint, deserved the Red Bull seat. “Yuki’s probably the guy who should’ve been in the Red Bull,” Brown quipped, a jab Lawson shrugged off with a curt, “I couldn’t care less what Zak says.” Yet Tsunoda’s pace—four-tenths ahead of Lawson in a supposedly slower car—piles on the heat. If Lawson falters, Tsunoda, whose contract ends this year, could be waiting in the wings.
But is Lawson’s slump entirely his fault? Red Bull’s car woes tell a deeper story. Verstappen’s genius has masked the RB21’s instability—a problem Perez flagged for over a year before his exit. Lawson’s tentative driving in China, wrestling a twitchy rear end, echoes those struggles. “He’s driving scared,” observers note, and until Red Bull crafts a more drivable machine, their second seat may remain a poisoned chalice. For now, Lawson’s fate hangs in the balance—five races to defy the odds or face Red Bull’s unforgiving axe. Can he rise to the challenge? The F1 world is watching.
