F1 commentator David Croft says Red Bull needs to find a way to stop making “knee-jerk reactions”
Sky Sports Formula One commentator David Croft has hit out at the Red Bull team, over their driver swap, saying the team’s once strong driver development has lost its way.
Motorsport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Motorsport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Formula 1 commentator David Croft has hit out at Red Bull for making “knee jerk reactions” in the wake of the Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda driver swap and said the team’s once gold-standard driver development had lost its way.
After confirmation Lawson had been brutally dropped by Red Bull after only two races, Croft questioned why the team continued to make “wrong decisions” with all the data they had available to them between their two Formula 1 outfits.
The 23-year-old New Zealander will return to junior team Racing Bulls, while Yuki Tsunoda has been promoted to the Red Bull seat alongside world champion Max Verstappen from next weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said the team had a “duty of care to protect and develop” Lawson and the early call had been a “purely sporting decision”.
Lawson was chosen ahead of the more experienced Tsunoda to replace Mexican Sergio Perez, despite having just 11 Formula 1 races under his belt before the start of this year.
Tsunoda gets his chance with Red Bull after four seasons with the sister team and he will become Verstappen’s sixth teammate in the past 10 years.
Slamming the team’s driver management, Croft said Red Bull once boasted the best driver development in F1 and its chiefs needed to find a way to stop acting reactively.
“Helmut Marko and Christian Horner need to sit down and say, ‘Right, where is our conveyor belt of talent? Who is coming through? And how do we make a long term plan now to stop making knee-jerk reactions that don’t do the team any good and certainly don’t do the drivers any good,” Croft told Sky Sports News.
“They had, at one time, the best driver development program on the planet.
“But maybe they’re a bit like (English Premier League team) Chelsea, they signed too many players, their substitute bench was creaking under the weight and they had to off-load because they couldn’t find spaces for all their drivers.
“Now, they probably haven’t got that conveyor belt of talent coming through and ready for a seat at the top team at this particular time.
“It takes a bit of time if you’re not a Max Verstappen if you’re not a Kimi Antonelli, if you’re not a Lewis Hamilton to ease yourself into the world of Formula 1, you sometimes need a bit of time.”
Lawson endured a tough start to his first full-time season in F1, crashing out in the rain at the season-opening race in Australia and struggled in qualifying for each race as he battled to come to grips with the RB21.
Croft said he could not understand how Red Bull continued to make the “wrong decisions” with driver selections.
“What I would love to know is how they made the decision about Liam Lawson in the first place,” Croft said.
“They have all the data from RB, it is their sister team, they can compare Max Verstappen to Liam Lawson, Yuki Tsunoda to Checo Perez as it was last year.
“They have got all the data they need to make the right decision, but they seem to keep making the wrong decision.
“But what data did they use and why is it now after two races they are going to discard that data and bring in Yuki Tsunoda who is the driver they didn’t think worthy of and haven’t thought worthy of for some time now.
“They have got all the data they need, but they seem to keep making the wrong decision.“
Lawson reacted to the news of his demotion with an emotional social media post alongside a picture of himself as a young boy dreaming of being an F1 driver.
“Being a @redbullracing driver has been my dream since I was a kid, it’s what I’ve worked towards my whole life,” Lawson wrote.
“It’s tough, but I’m grateful for everything that’s brought me to this point. To everyone of you who has stood by me, thank you for all the support, it means the world.”
More Coverage
Originally published as F1 commentator David Croft says Red Bull needs to find a way to stop making “knee-jerk reactions”
Bombshell Max prophecy flips F1 on its head
A ticking time bomb is set to explode on Red Bull, as the team grapples with a crippling problem and rumours swirl about Max Verstappen.
Townsville 500 in store for exciting Supercars shake-up in 2025
The NTI Townsville 500 is in for a major shake-up this year with Supercars set to announce a rejigged and re-energised entertainment extravaganza later this week. Find out what could be in store.