As far as ruthless drivers swaps go, Red Bull truly outdid itself when it stripped Liam Lawson of his RB21 seat alongside Max Verstappen after just two – admittedly woeful – weekends, crashing out in Melbourne from 18th on the grid, and qualifying dead last for both China's sprint and grand prix.
Helmut Marko and Christian Horner felt Lawson's two abysmal weekends in Australia and China were so severe that his season was threatening to spiral out of control, while the New Zealander argued he simply needed a lot more time in the seat and that a lack of confidence in his own driving was never the real issue.
