Max Verstappen's reported anger towards Red Bull's decision to axe Liam Lawson has added fuel to claims that the Dutchman is on his way out of the F1 team.

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner has backed Max Verstappen's suggestion that Liam Lawson would currently be faster in a Racing Bulls car.

Neither Yuki Tsunoda nor Liam Lawson were wanted in the second Red Bull seat by team boss Christian Horner, at least according to Ralf Schumacher. Instead, the six-time F1 race winner claims that Horner wanted to place Franco Colapinto alongside Max Verstappen for F1 2025,

Red Bull made a big decision at the back end of last year when they replaced veteran driver Sergio Perez with reserve driver Liam Lawson for the 2025 season. Now, only two races into the calendar, their big decision has seemingly gone wrong.

Max Verstappen did not have the easiest of Grands Prix in Shanghai. He actively fought against the RB21 until the end, when the car finally worked with him and not against him. Team principal Christian Horner complimented Verstappen after his Chinese Grand Prix performance.

Max Verstappen has a new Formula 1 team-mate after Yuki Tsunoda was promoted to the main Red Bull team following the decision to demote Liam Lawson to Racing Bulls

David Croft calls Christian Horner and Helmut Marko out for choosing Liam Lawson over Yuki Tsunoda only to sack him two races later.

According to GPblog, Verstappen is said to have told Red Bull to place their trust in the 23-year-old Lawson and afford the Kiwi more time in the RB21. However, discussions between key Red Bull officials are said to have culminated with a consensus that a change should be made.