Here’s what the Colombian racing star had to say.
Red Bull needed to give Liam Lawson more time, yes. How can you make a decision on two races?
It amazes me that they think it is just a driver issue, not a car issue, or an engineering issue, or a core group issue. How ruthless do you need to be to go?
Then I go back to the same question, then how good was Checo Perez then? Because he could do a pretty decent job on that car.
His career was killed because we all at the time thought Checo was the problem. We were asking, ‘What the hell is wrong with Checo?’
Now you look back at it and you go, ‘My God, it was the bloody car.’
If for some reason Max were to leave Red Bull this year, the car would be racing behind the Racing Bulls. I think the sister team would be more compatible.
I think the Red Bull is a quick car, but everything is geared to Max.
Where it goes wrong is that you have two cars, and you have two teams. You can’t expect the ‘B’ car to show up with the same setup as the ‘A’ car when you have two completely different drivers.
You need to have a driver strong enough to stand up to the engineer. You can see how an engineer would say, ‘We see the way Max is braking and the way you’re braking. And the way Max releases the brakes and the way you release the brakes shows you’re doing it wrong.’
For an engineer, it’s much easier to blame the driver and cover their arse than step up to the plate and hold their hands up.
Someone high enough in Red Bull needs to have the balls to say, ‘We’re doing it wrong.’
They need to admit that what they’re doing for Max is right, but is wrong for the other drivers.
They need to have two philosophies on the cars to be able to be competitive. I’m not saying changing the car specs, but how you unload the car, how you just set up your run.
If Yuki wants to be competitive, he’s going to have to spend so many hours in the simulator.
You could hear Liam saying, ‘the car felt good for a lap and then it went to shit.’
You need to be able to trust your team and your drivers. Management needs to go, okay, we’re not going to get Checo back, but we know Liam can perform because he’s done it in the Racing Bulls.
They need to explore this over the long term because if Max leaves the team, the drop-off in Red Bull performance is not going to be pretty to watch.
I think right now his reputation is not good. You can see all the memes on social media. He’s very cocky. A little arrogance is OK. But the problem is that when you’re arrogant, you need to deliver.
You need to back it up. This was a real slap in the face for him.
The Mexicans will be loving this because he gave Checo the middle finger last year because supposedly Perez was a terrible driver.
Now you see them in the same car and he’s worse than Perez.
It’s been a very humbling experience for Liam. I think it will help him put everything into perspective.
If he doesn’t panic and if he stays in the moment and just goes and drives the car, I think Liam can do a really good job.
I see Suzuka as an opportunity for Tsunoda more than anything else.
If he even half performs it’s way better than what Liam was doing. If Max qualifies fourth and Tsunoda qualifies 12th, it’s way better than what Liam was doing and what Checo was doing.
It’s his home race, somewhere where he’s raced a lot, he knows well, and where he performs well. And if for some reason he can drive the car and be close to Max, my God, his career is off.
His future would be assured to a point where Red Bull would be forced to sign him long-term.
I would have put Isack Hadjar in the Red Bull, more than Yuki Tsunoda. He would have been my choice.
If I was Red Bull, I would have stated publicly that they were signing Hadjar for two years and guarantee him the seat without question whatever happens.
We don’t know what the deal is with Yuki. One year? Two years? I think it’s for the whole season.
Choosing Tsunoda now is an admission they got it wrong last year.
Actually, I don’t think the Red Bull car is that bad. It’s built for Max in a way he makes it look amazing. But the car is built for him. Everything is done for him, for his driving, to his liking.
You don’t see Max struggling with the car. He can drive the car and while the car might not drive great, he can drive it.
When you have somebody comfortable, and somebody that is not, it’s a big difference and that right there is the problem at Red Bull.
You have somebody who is very in tune with the car that has been there for a long time and understands the philosophy and can drive it and then you have somebody who comes from a team with a completely different philosophy. It takes time to get used to it and it takes time to adapt the drive to it.
George Russell is becoming at title contender. The question mark against George is if it comes down to racing-wise. If he had to go head to head against a Max or a Lando, Lando maybe he could, but against Max, with his aggression level, no.
George is good and very reliable and has got a really good pace, and he finishes the race.
But if it came down to a situation where you need to dive bomb and be really aggressive, that’s the only question mark I have.
