Red Bull Advisor Helmut Marko recently taken the driver swap that brought Yuki tsunoda to Red Bull Racing and sent Liam Lawson back to the racing bulls, considering the performance clause for Max VestAppen to leave the team.
This is the first thing that Red Bull changed the driver for a season, and Marko admitted that the team’s priority is winning the driver champion with VERSTAPPEN, and that if you do not have enough results, the Dutch can open.
Marko said to the BBC, “We have this great motivation to achieve this fifth title.“ We also know that if we do not provide MAX, all the best drivers have performance clause. So we know that he should get a car that can win. There was a very constructive meeting last Thursday, and there were MAX with engineers, and we discussed how to improve the car to improve the car and secure a wider area for more driving.
“It’s just two races. We are behind 8 points [Lando Norris] And the entire team focused on achieving this fifth title. [Sebastian] Betel, but this time there is a possibility. If you look at the lap time on MAX on the hard tire, [in China]We were competitive, not everywhere like MCLAREN, but it is not as far as that is sometimes seen. ”
VERSTAPPEN was understood to support Lawson, and at the beginning of the season, it was difficult to promote the RB21 as the center of New Zealand’s struggle. But Marko said Tsunoda has a clearer confidence and experience he can expect at this stage this year.
“RB21 is not the fastest car, but it’s very difficult to drive,” he said. Marko said, “Max can handle it at this stage, but Liam cannot handle it.
“TSUNODA has taken a big step, now in the fifth year he’s a much stronger personality. He changed his management and was much more mature, and he had more confidence and had a very good race. [in Australia and China]In Racing Bulls, the strategy did not work. But in this case, experience will be helpful for a very difficult car.
“On the other hand, we have two drivers for the constructor championship, but if two drivers have five to eight people to support MAX strategically, it is easier to maximize the strategy of preferring one driver.”
Marko said TSUNODA would be offered until the end of the season with VestAppen, despite the quick decision to replace Lawson.
