Chandhok: Dropping Lawson from Racing Bulls would be ‘one of the most unjust sackings in F1’

Karun Chandhok has urged Racing Bulls to retain Liam Lawson next season, arguing that dropping the New Zealander after his campaign would rank among F1’s most unjust sackings.

Speaking on Sky Sports F1 during FP1 in Mexico, Chandhok praised Lawson’s season at Racing Bulls and his three-race return to Red Bull while Isack Hadjar was injured. He said Lawson did a good job during that Red Bull spell.

Chandhok also argued that Racing Bulls has its own identity, sponsors and reasons to compete, rather than existing simply to prepare drivers for Red Bull. He said he could not see data showing Nikola Tsolov would be a better option than Lawson.

Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane had described a difficult choice: three strong drivers for two seats, with Arvid Lindblad widely expected to stay. Tsolov was also fighting to reach the F1 grid, while Lawson had yet to be offered a new contract for next season.