DChemTech wrote: ↑17 Dec 2024, 15:53
They had no issue with a rookie pairing, but did retain Max, who was obviously hauled as the next big thing, for 1.5 years before promoting him (and even then via an - uncommon - mid-season swap). They took the time for him to develop before moving up. They did not do so for Albon (due to lack of alternatives perhaps) and it did not turn out great. But here they do have the alternative. Nobody would be surprised if the more experienced VCARB driver would be promoted first. Noone would be surprised if RB choses not to promote a driver that has far less than a full season of mileage. There is the alternative with multiple seasons under his belt, and there is the option to still promote Lawson after 1.5 year if Yuki does not deliver in 2025, while giving Liam the chance to hone his skills outside of the full spotlight. It should not be insulting to Lawson to promote Yuki over him either, considering all this. So really, in my view there seems to be very, very little reason to give Lawson priority.
Agreed, it's a much different situation to what it looked like for Sainz in 2016, or for Gasly when he got demoted.
Sainz was a rookie at the same time as Verstappen(while being older) and Max won the promotion, with Max and Ricciardo RBR looked locked up for the forseeable future, his promotion opportunities looked bleak, so he wanted out from the program.
The Lawson situation is different because he would "losing" to a guy who is way more experienced than himself.
And this guy may not be able to stick at the big team for very long, Lawson's path would still be clear and simple, stomp rookie team mate, wait for Yuki to be moved or Max fall for Toto's "seduction".
