Christian Horner explains why Red Bull promoted Liam Lawson over Yuki Tsunoda.
Despite making only 11 grands prix starts spread over two seasons and having not convincingly outperformed teammate Tsunoda, it was the 22-year-old New Zealander who ultimately got the nod to be Red Bull ’s next driver."It was very, very tight between the two of them," Horner told ESPN.
"With Liam, when you look and go into the analytics of his race, pace was slightly better in the races that he did. His qualifying pace was very tight with Yuki, and you've got to assume that the potential with Liam having only done 11 grand prix, is he's only going to get better and stronger. He's shown real mental resilience and toughness.
"He's got that kind of gritty racer mentality. He did a year in the DTM where he adjusted to driving a Ferrari GT car incredibly quickly alongside Alex Albon and generally had the upper hand. "The engineers have enjoyed working with him through the running that he's done this year. He's got a good work ethic as well. So it is great to have Yuki still involved with the Racing Bull scene next year. And of course he's on standby should he ever be required.”Horner has acknowledged that Lawson faces a “daunting” task going up against Verstappen - a job considered the hardest in F1 - but insisted Red Bull will avoid putting too much pressure on their second driver.
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