Ahead of Japan, Red Bull dominates, but in a different way

“Well, I liked the comment, the text, so I guess that speaks for itself, right? It was not a mistake.”

Max Verstappen is not happy.

At the center of a crowd huddled around a small table in the temporary hospitality building that is home for Red Bull for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, the Dutchman would not discuss exactly what he told the team about his thoughts on Liam Lawson’s demotion after just two races, but he still found a way to get the message across.

Former Formula 1 driver Giedo van der Garde had published an Instagram post in support of Lawson a week ago, in which he said of the situation: “in my opinion this comes closer to bullying or a panic move than actual high athlete achievements”. And Verstappen had liked it. On Thursday he confirmed that it was he who had done so, as he agreed with the sentiment.

Christian Horner wasn’t at Suzuka while the drivers were facing questions about the situation, instead still traveling down from Tokyo for a Friday arrival when he will become central to the story. But in his absence, it was Racing Bulls team principal Laurent Mekies – encouraging a supportive and welcoming atmosphere from his personnel towards Lawson on his return – and the drivers themselves who were the focal point.

Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda had their say, but other drivers were naturally asked about the situation, too, and while Tsunoda is a seriously popular figure in the paddock, not all of the viewpoints were positive.

“I’m not surprised to see them move that early, no,” Lewis Hamilton said. “But I don’t really have any views on other teams.

“Both great drivers, I think we’ve got a lot of really great drivers here and 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 give him two races was pretty harsh.”

From the most successful Formula 1 driver of all time to the most recent race-winner, there were multiple drivers who voiced their opinion that two races is not enough to be judging someone on.

“I think what we’ve seen from Liam in the first two races is not a reflection of his talent,” Oscar Piastri said. “I’ve raced Liam for a number of years and I think he’s an incredibly competitive driver. I don’t think the results he showed in the first two rounds are indicative of what he’s capable of, and I’ll leave it at that.”

The word “brutal” has often been used over the past week, from both a media or fan perspective, but also senior figures within the F1 paddock. Tsunoda acknowledges that can often be the case with Red Bull, but offers an interesting take on it perhaps being one of the reasons for the team’s past successes.

“For me at least, it was brutal enough last year at the end of the season when they chose Liam over me,” Tsunoda said. “It is what it is. I’m sure Liam also understands how quickly things can change within our structure. That’s one of the reasons we succeed, but also one of the reasons why we tend to get a little more attention with those situations.

“I have confidence. I’m not saying I have the confidence that I can perform straight away like Max, but I have confidence that I can do something different – hopefully – compared to other drivers that will be in the car. If I didn’t have confidence, I wouldn’t be wearing this , I would have stayed in Racing Bulls.

“Racing Bulls already have such a good car, and I understand how they extract performance in every race so far but because I wanted to have a new challenge, and I have good confidence to challenge myself, so that’s why I’m wearing this and hitting the track with a different livery.”

Mekies did his best to put the positive spin on it, and there are positives, but they also create a lot of internal conflict for many. Given Lawson got so little time to prove himself, the fact he still has a seat – with something to prove and the chance to prove it – is what his new team principal is encouraging. And it’s hard to argue that it wouldn’t be great to see.

But at the same time, you’ll be hard pushed to find anyone wanting to see Tsunoda struggle, too, even though that might be the most likely outcome in a car that has proven extremely tricky to drive for both Lawson and the far more experienced and successful Sergio Perez. And if Tsunoda is going to find the going tough, then it would be particularly cruel to see that at his home race.

The entire circuit is going to be rooting for him this weekend, and I imagine plenty watching from around the world too. But then if we get our wish and Tsunoda also performs well, then you end up with both drivers delivering, and Red Bull being vindicated in making the switch. And with my apologies to the team, the last part doesn’t quite feel like the most positive aspect.

Especially if that could be seen as papering over cracks that Verstappen himself says cannot and should not be ignored.

“Maybe we can now see how difficult it is to drive that car,” Verstappen said. “I don’t think you need to have a look at anyone, to be honest. What has been done has been done. I think it’s more important that we take a good look at ourselves and just keep on working and keep on improving the car.

“I don’t care what anyone else thinks. Or ‘poor Checo’, or ‘poor this’, or ‘poor that’. At the end of the day, we got ourselves into this situation, so we just need to work on it.”

The defending champion is not satisfied. How Tsunoda and Lawson fare this weekend is going to be fascinating to watch, but so too are Verstappen’s fortunes.