Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has confirmed that Max Verstappen opposed Red Bull’s decision to replace Liam Lawson with Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda just two rounds into the 2025 Formula 1 season.

Red Bull made the call after Lawson underperformed at both Albert Park and Shanghai, finishing last in both qualifying sessions at the Chinese Grand Prix—a particularly damaging low point.

Keen-eyed observers may have noticed a subtle indication of Verstappen’s stance on the matter in an Instagram post by former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde, which was liked by several current drivers, including the four-time world champion.

“I’m getting a bit tired of all the comments that F1 is the toughest sport in terms of performances and that when you underdeliver, you’ve got to face the consequences,” van der Garde wrote.

“Yes, you’ve got to perform. Yes, the pressure is immense. But in my opinion, this comes closer to bullying or a panic move than an actual high-performance sporting decision. They made a choice—fully aware—only to give Liam two races before crushing his spirit.”

Did this suggest Verstappen would have preferred to continue with Lawson? When asked by Motorsport.com’s sister publication Formel1.de in an exclusive video interview whether this was a fair conclusion based on his Instagram like, Marko confirmed:

“That conclusion is correct, and he did express that. But we explained to Max that, in order to win the championship, we must do everything possible to have two cars in the top 10.

Red Bull’s second car has been a more noticeable weakness since the team lost its dominant advantage at the front of the field.

Verstappen secured his fourth world title single-handedly in 2024, while Sergio Pérez spent just 91 out of 1,113 racing laps in the top five over the final 18 rounds of the season—without a single top-five finish in that period—potentially costing the team a third successive constructors’ championship.

Despite this, Verstappen did advocate for his New Zealand team-mate as Red Bull weighed up its options.

“Max argued that the car is very difficult to drive and that, if the car were better, Lawson’s performance would improve as well,” Marko explained. “Of course, we are working on further development, but at the moment, it is difficult to predict how quickly those improvements will come.”

Red Bull has developed a reputation for ruthlessness with its drivers, with several having been demoted from the main team to the sister outfit or dropped altogether over the past two decades.

Lawson was Verstappen’s fourth team-mate since Daniel Ricciardo—still the last driver to match the Dutchman in equal machinery—departed at the end of 2018, following Pierre Gasly, Alexander Albon, and Pérez, all of whom struggled to varying degrees.

However, Marko is eager to clarify that describing this decision as a ‘demotion’ is inaccurate.

“Firstly, he is not being demoted—he is moving to Racing Bulls, which is a highly competitive car and far easier to handle than the RB21,” the Austrian insisted.

“The change followed a rather unfortunate start. The third practice session in Australia was cancelled [it was not, but Lawson was unable to run due to reliability issues], and that is where the problems began. That naturally affected Liam’s confidence.

“Unfortunately, things continued in the same vein in China, which also featured a sprint race—meaning there was only one practice session. At the same time, we must acknowledge that the RB21 is difficult to drive. It is not the fastest car, and the performance gap continued to widen.

“But coming back to the notion of being ‘demoted’: we mentioned Gasly. He later returned to strong form and is now a highly successful Grand Prix driver with Alpine. The same applies to Albon. Everyone faced similar challenges alongside Max, yet they regained their form in a less pressured environment.”

Lawson will at least have the opportunity to regroup and get his Formula 1 career back on track within the Racing Bulls team—where he had impressed enough in 2024 to earn his initial promotion over Tsunoda.

Although there were rumours surrounding Alpine reserve driver Franco Colapinto—likely originating from the Argentinian’s own camp—these were fuelled further by Marko’s visit to the Alpine hospitality in China. However, he clarified that the discussion centred around Red Bull juniors with Hitech Grand Prix founder and Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes.

“I have a good relationship with Ollie Oakes,” Marko said. “He has regularly managed some of our drivers in his various teams across the junior categories. One of his drivers is currently competing in British F4, for instance. That was the reason for our meeting. Colapinto was not a topic of discussion.”