David Croft Grills Christian Horner and Helmut Marko Over Liam Lawson’s Harsh Demotion

Red Bull are still stuck in the loop of deciding who the right candidate is to be Max Verstappen’s teammate. During the recent off-season, they thought Liam Lawson was the one. Christian Horner and Helmut Marko hyped up the Kiwi big time. But just two races into his stint, Lawson has now been sacked, and people are slamming Horner and Marko’s wrong choice.

David Croft has been a lead F1 commentator since 2013. He has witnessed countless historic moments and called several infamous ones as well. But rarely has he criticized a team’s poor driver management as strongly as he did with Red Bull recently.

“Helmut Marko and Christian Horner need to sit down and say, right, where is our conveyor belt of talent? Who is coming through, and how do we make a long-term plan now to stop making knee-jerk reactions?” Croft said in a Sky Sports video, where he called out Red Bull’s once-famed young driver program for its recent failures.

Stars like Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, and Max Verstappen have emerged from the team’s academy, earning it a reputation as one of the best in the world. However, Croft compared Red Bull’s current situation to Chelsea—one of England’s biggest football clubs—who are now struggling with an influx of players they don’t really need.

“A bit like Chelsea. They signed too many players, the substitutes bench was creaking… and they had to offload because they couldn’t find spaces for all their drivers,” he said, insisting that Red Bull doesn’t have a gifted talent pool anymore because they hesitate to give drivers time to develop.

The F1 community criticized Horner and Marko for choosing Lawson over Yuki Tsunoda, fearing underwhelming performances from the Kiwi driver. And they turned out to be right. What Croft wants to understand is why Red Bull lost faith in the data that made them sure that Lawson was good enough.

“To ease yourself into the world of F1, you need a bit of time,” he continued. “What I’d love to know is how they made the decision about Liam Lawson? They have all the data from RB. They’ve got all the data they need to make the right decision. But they seem to keep making the wrong decision.” 

Now, Red Bull has brought in Tsunoda to replace Lawson, despite being certain just a few months ago that the Japanese driver wasn’t the right fit. Is this a panic move, or do Marko and Horner truly know what they’re doing?

Either way, the road ahead for Tsunoda is both challenging and career-defining. His F1 future hangs in the balance. Lawson meanwhile, will be demoted back to RB.

Tsunoda’s chance to prove Red Bull wrong

Tsunoda did not appreciate being overlooked by Red Bull for 2025. Lawson is undoubtedly talented, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Japanese driver outperformed him in all 11 races they competed in at the pinnacle of motorsport.

But now, as Red Bull looks to cut its losses—after Lawson’s two races without a single point—and get both drivers competing at the front again, Tsunoda will need to be at his best.

If the 24-year-old performs well, it will be a statement to Horner and Marko, forcing them to admit their mistakes. That said, if Tsunoda falters, it will only further prove that there may have been a reason he wasn’t chosen in the first place. In that case, his chances of securing an F1 seat altogether could take a massive hit—especially with Honda, his biggest backers, set to leave Red Bull.

Red Bull won’t hesitate to make further changes to their driver lineup this season. But with Lawson already demoted and Tsunoda now under pressure, there aren’t many options left for them to call upon. While they have seen the likes of Ayumu Iwasa and Dennis Hauger do well in junior formulas, the Bulls aren’t too confident that they can cut it at the top.

Perhaps Croft was right about the lack of a talent pool. This also explains why drivers like Franco Colapinto have been linked with one of the Red Bull seats since last year.