Verstappen angry over Red Bull teammate's firing: 'It ruins someone's chances

The New Zealander had a challenging start to life at the Austrian team, and after just two, albeit disappointing, performances, he was demoted back to Racing Bulls, replaced by Yuki Tsunoda.

Although it doesn’t matter much to Verstappen which driver sits next to him, he felt that Lawson was treated unfairly and did not agree with the decision made by his team.

"Two races, of course, for a teammate. I didn’t agree with that at the time, because in the end, you end up ruining someone’s chance at a top team," the Dutchman said during his end-of-year interview with Viaplay.

But despite the early setback, Lawson recovered well, finishing the season with 38 points, good enough for P14 in the drivers' standings.

"I have to say, Liam recovered well at Racing Bulls. You could also say: ‘Just forget about it all. I’m done with it.’ Two races are far too early to make a decision on that," continued an impressed Verstappen.

While Lawson found his feet once again, Tsunoda failed to make an impression at Red Bull, scoring just 33 points over the season and finishing P17

"Yuki came in, and it shows that it was tough," Verstappen concluded.

Next season, another driver will get a shot as Verstappen’s teammate after Isack Hadjar was promoted to Red Bull after an impressive debut season with Racing Bulls.