Oliver Mintzlaff provides decisive judgement on Red Bull axing Liam Lawson

The top boss at Red Bull’s F1 parent company has backed their decision to drop Liam Lawson.

Lawson became the latest driver to be ruthlessly booted out of the Red Bull car, after just two grands prix.

His poor results opened the door to Yuki Tsunoda, and Lawson went back to Racing Bulls.

Despite criticism for the team’s handling of the situation, they have been defended by the managing director of Red Bull GmbH.

Oliver Mintzlaff told Bild about Christian Horner and Helmut Marko’s decision: “I understand them and find them justified.

“Nevertheless, it was the right step. Formula 1 is a high-performance sport and its performance was not right.

“It would have been wrong to keep Liam in the car. With the ever-increasing pressure, we wouldn't have done him any favors.

“In the end, he also understood and accepted that. We are happy that we now have him back with the Racing Bulls.”

Lawson has finished 17th, 16th and 12th in his three races back with the Racing Bulls team since being axed by Red Bull.

Red Bull struggle behind McLaren

Despite Max Verstappen’s pole position and P2 in Saudi Arabia last weekend, Red Bull still lag behind McLaren.

Even when Lando Norris had a torrid weekend in Saudi Arabia due to a crash in qualifying, teammate Oscar Piastri won the grand prix and now leads the drivers’ standings.

But Mintzlaff is optimistic about Red Bull’s chances.

“I see how self-critical the team is with itself and the situation, and puts everything to the test,” he said.

“Despite the successful past years, you can feel the greed for success.

“Everyone wants to win here and get back to the top. I have full confidence that this can succeed.

“Much of the team that has been responsible for the success of the past few years is the same as it is now.

“They haven't forgotten how to build or tune a Formula 1 car over the winter break.”

Mintzlaff added: “I don't see us as blatant outsiders. Anyone who knows Red Bull knows that we have an extreme hunger for titles.

“So once again: The Formula 1 season is long. Nobody knows which team will develop its car and how well.

“It's clear that we're not the hunted at the moment. It was a bad start, but I'm far from questioning everything. That would be actionism – and actionism has never achieved anything in sport.

“I know that from football. There are people who think they can walk on water if they have won four or five games in a row. And if they lose four or five games, everything is called into question. We do not fall into these extremes.”

In Germany, headlines were made by Ralf Schumacher’s claim that Verstappen could make a decision to quit Red Bull soon if the car’s competitiveness does not greatly increase.

“I have a good relationship with Ralf,” Mintzlaff reacted.

“He does his job and we focus on ourselves. But no one has to worry that we at Red Bull have sleepless nights because of his statements.”

Mintzlaff revealed what he said to Schumacher: “What I would say to everyone.

“I miss out on the fact that Red Bull has dominated Formula 1 in the past four years. Six out of eight possible world championship titles were won.

“Of course, it wasn't a good start this season, but our fall was also different.”