Ralf Schumacher thinks Red Bull made a ‘big mistake’ not signing Christian Horner favourite over Liam Lawson

Liam Lawson has been dropped just two races into his Red Bull career – the shortest stint of any driver in the team.

The New Zealander was brought in to replace Sergio Perez for the 2025 season. Lawson snubbed Yuki Tsunoda for the seat as Red Bull believed he had a higher ceiling and was more equipped to battle Max Verstappen.

The Milton Keynes-based outfit were hoping the 23-year-old would at least perform better than Perez. However, his first two races of 2025 were a disaster, crashing out in Melbourne and finishing 12th in China.

Lawson was knocked out of Q1 in both events – qualifying last in Shanghai for the Sprint and main race. His dismal performances have led to Tsunoda being promoted to Red Bull for the remainder of the season.

There was even speculation that the Kiwi driver would drop out of F1 completely, with Red Bull reigniting interest in Franco Colapinto to bring him to Racing Bulls. But nothing came to fruition and Lawson will return to the Faenza team to partner with Isack Hadjar.

Many people have been left wondering how Red Bull got their decision so wrong about their driver pairing for 2025. Ralf Schumacher thinks they made a ‘big mistake’ overlooking one driver Christian Horner had tabs on.

Ralf Schumacher thinks Red Bull made a ‘big mistake’ not signing Nico Hulkenberg

The second Red Bull seat looked to be a shootout between Lawson and Tsunoda, which ultimately went to the former despite being outperformed by the latter at Racing Bulls in 2024.

The 2024 F1 teammate head-to-head battle of Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson

But there were also some candidates outside of the team’s pool of drivers being considered. Horner ‘confirmed’ talks with Fernando Alonso had been ongoing before he extended his contract with Aston Martin.

Schumacher heard that Nico Hulkenberg was a driver the Red Bull boss ‘wanted’ before he signed with Sauber from Haas. Speaking with Sky Sport Germany, the former F1 driver thinks the team made a ‘big mistake’ not signing him over Lawson.

“The mistake from the beginning was not to let Nico Hulkenberg into the car. And that was Christian Horner who apparently still wanted him. I have no idea, that’s what I heard,” he said.

“They needed a clear, experienced number two next to Max Verstappen. and I don’t think anything against Nico but that worked out well. He’s also great in qualifying, he’s great in races. and that was the big mistake.

“After that, I think it was Christian Horner who really wanted Colapinto, but he shot himself out with his three total crashes in the last races.

“Yes, and then there was Dr. Marko, who at that point said: ‘One second. we’ll take our juniors’ and I don’t see a junior next to Max Verstappen at the moment.”

Red Bull’s decision to drop Liam Lawson may have angered Max Verstappen

Red Bull’s decision to drop Lawson is incredibly harsh but not surprising. No driver has been able to handle the sensitive nature of their car next to Verstappen – Tsunoda is his sixth teammate in 10 seasons.

The Dutchman has also been struggling with the 2025 car as it currently cannot win races. Verstappen is ‘extremely annoyed’ Red Bull cannot fight with McLaren as he is pushing the team to upgrade the car as best they can.

Despite the RB21’s issues, it seems Red Bull think the main solution – once again – is to drop the second driver. Verstappen opposed Tsunoda replacing Lawson as he feared the demotion would ‘ruin’ the latter’s career.

The four-time champion has not spoken publicly about the decision, but many fans think Verstappen is ‘done’ with Red Bull after noticing he liked Giedo van der Garde’s Instagram post about Lawson.

Van der Garde labelled Lawson’s exit as ‘bullying’ – the fact that Verstappen liked this suggests he is not in support of the decision, which could lead to trouble surrounding his own future.