Christian Horner delivers Liam Lawson bombshell - he should never have been promoted to Red Bull

The passage comes from Horner's account of the search for Sergio Perez's replacement. GPblog has an advanced copy of the book in which the former Red Bull boss addresses the New Zealander's promotion.

With both Alonso and Leclerc ruled out, Red Bull eventually selected Liam Lawson as Perez's replacement. Horner says he had doubts from the start.

Lawson lasted two races before being demoted with Horner admitting that "actually, he should never have been promoted in the first place".

The book's verdict is hard to square with what Horner said earlier this year. In February, it was reported that Horner claimed it "wasn't his choice" to drop Lawson so early in the season, stating Red Bull's former motorsport consultant Helmut Marko was behind the call.

In the latest series of Drive to Survive, Horner said: "That wasn't my choice," Horner insisted on the show. "I was always pushed to take drivers from the junior programme, Helmut was a big driver in that."

Horner's comments come as Lawson is having his strongest spell in Formula 1. Lawson has made a strong case for himself and has scored 69 points this season. That total includes 14 points from the three races he drove for Red Bull while Isack Hadjar recovered from a wrist injury.

Lawson leads Lindblad 10-4 in races and 9-5 in qualifying during their 14 shared grands prix and with six Grand Prix remaining, Lawson has contributed an impressive 61% of Racing Bulls' Constructors' Championship points.

As GPblog reported in Lawson's 2027 future: Racing Bulls expected to keep him alongside Lindblad, it is expected the current line-up to stay together.

Asked recently about his future, Lawson said: "Obviously, it's normal to hear about this at this point in the year, but right now I'm just focused on trying to score points every weekend and keep this good run going."