Villeneuve on Lawson at Red Bull: 'Marko really doesn't like that'

Liam Lawson did not impress Formula 1 fans during the first sessions of the season, but things went much better during Saturday's sprint race. Ahead of the 19 lap race, Jacques Villeneuve spoke on F1 TV about the New Zealander's current situation with the Austrian consultant, Helmut Marko, and the Red Bull Racing team.

"It's also not the right team to have a bad weekend in. Because Helmut Marko doesn't like it. He really pounds on his drivers. He wants them to be strong mentally. And if you don't cut it, he chops you. And they know that. So it's a tough space to be in. In another team, he would be protected better," Villeneuve said.

Lawson had a pretty dramatic weekend in Australia. In qualifying on Saturday in Melbourne, he did not get past Q1, and during the race he DNF'd.

After finishing dead last in sprint qualifying on Friday, he was able to claw his way back from P20 to P14 in the sprint race on Saturday.