BREAKING – Lawson and Doohan in Danger of Axe BEFORE Japan?

By Joe Murphy

Being an F1 rookie is never easy. Often, you have to compete against a more experienced teammate and the pressure at the elite level of motorsport is nothing like anything they would have experienced before.

In the case of Jack Doohan, this matches up exactly. Whilst there have been glimpses, he is a large reason why Alpine languish at the bottom of the constructors standings. He is yet to score and, is in fact yet to even look like scoring. Whilst Pierre Gasly managed a pre-disqualification 11th in China, Doohan ended up much further back, suffering his third penalty in two race weekends. The penalty points on his profile are already occurring fast, to a point that there are doubts his stint will last until the summer. Alpine can’t afford to have a car with nobody in it.

Doohan hasn’t been helped with comments from Hugh profile F1 personnel questioning his abilities, such as Helmut Marko. Any more incidents, then Alpine will have to consider options. There are experienced drivers on the free agents list, and their hand may be forced. Although, this is unlikely to be as soon as April’s Japanese Grand Prix as F1 rolls into Suzuka for round three.

Liam Lawson is sitting in a pretty miserable position. Issac Hadjar put first week devastation into a productive second effort where, he managed to show glimpses has has what it takes. Likewise Yuki Tsunoda has unquestionably been unlucky not to score better after late drops in both main races so far. With these two, plus Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo chilling at home, there is huge fears that the young driver from New Zealand could be replaced very soon, even discussions of before the next Grand Prix. Whilst unlikely, Team Principal Christian Horner could not rule out such a move.

It would be harsh as Liam hasn’t had much time to adjust to his new seat, but then again in F1, you can’t really have much time. You need to make an immediate impact.

It does bring into the spotlight just how tricky the second Red Bull seat is. Horner confirmed that as Verstappen likes more front control to the car, the back tends to slide out more. This would explain why drivers who are clearly good enough to compete such as Race Winner Pierre Gasly, the aforementioned Ricciardo and Perez and even a Alex Albon who is currently flying at Williams, couldn’t get to grips with that car either.

Regardless, Red Bull can’t afford to have one car competing for points and the other crashing out in Q1 in every session. It does feel like Lawson is on borrowed time. In Japan, if still in the seat, he’ll need to pull out a performance otherwise any one of a number of drivers will happily take the opportunity. Yuki Tsunoda is believed to be the preferred candidate in a move that would see Lawson go back to RB.