Max Verstappen has confirmed his discontent with Red Bull’s decision to swap his team-mate just two races into the new Formula 1 season. At this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, he will share a garage with Yuki Tsunoda after the team made the controversial call to drop the struggling Liam Lawson.
The Kiwi failed to scored a single point across the first two race weekends and Red Bull felt he was buckling under the pressure. But Verstappen hinted that he was unhappy about the decision by liking a social media post from former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde which accused Red Bull of “crushing Lawson’s spirit”.
And now, speaking ahead of the Suzuka race weekend, Verstappen has confirmed that he has told Red Bull about his dissatisfaction. He said: “I liked the comment, the text, so I guess that speaks for itself, right? It was not a mistake.”
But he declined to opportunity to share what he has told the team about his stance, and said: “My reaction was shared with the team but in general, about not only the swap, but about everything. We discussed that already during last weekend and back at the factory.
“Everything has been shared with the team, how I think about everything. Sometimes it’s not necessary to always share everything in public. I think it’s better. I have discussed everything with the team so the team knows how I think about everything and I think that’s enough to be honest.”
Verstappen went on to say he had spoken with Lawson also, but again chose not to go into detail about what was said. He added: “I’ve discussed everything with the team, I’ve spoken to Liam and that’s all I can say about it.”
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Lawson has returned to junior team Racing Bulls and will partner rookie Isack Hadjar in Suzuka this weekend. Speaking to Sky Sports in Japan, he admitted that he was not expecting to be axed so early in the season even despite his poor results.
He said: “It was definitely a shock, honestly. It’s not something that I saw coming. The discussions we were having as well, I think, weren’t really leaning in this direction, so it was definitely not something that I sort of expected.”
Admitting his frustration over having not been given more opportunities to find his feet and form, he added: “I would have loved more time. And I felt like with more time, especially going to places that I’d been before.
“It was a tough start. We had a rocky testing. We had a rocky first weekend in Melbourne with practice, and then obviously China was a sprint [race]. I think going to places that I’d been before with the way the car was quite tricky, I think that would have helped and I would have loved that opportunity. But obviously, it’s not my decision, so I’m here to make the most of this one.”
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