Red Bull focused on Verstappen's fifth title after they "didn't make it" with Vettel

Red Bull Racing officials have come out and explained their decision to drop Liam Lawson from the second seat of their team and choose to promote Yuki Tsunoda.

Long-time advisor for Red Bull, Helmet Marko, stated that performance clauses in Max Verstappen's contract were considered during the decision-making process.

We have this huge motivation to achieve this fifth title,” Marko told the BBC.

"We also know that if we don’t deliver for Max, all the top drivers have performance clauses in their contract, so we have to make sure he gets a car where he can win."

Marko seems to be proposing a clause in Verstappen's contract that would prolong his stay at Red Bull if he secures another title. On the other hand, if he fails to win a title, he could choose to end the contract and depart from the team.

Considering that Red Bull has built their entire racing program around Verstappen in an effort to win the Driver's Championship, the loss of the Dutchman would likely cripple the team for several years.

The Red Bull car has not appeared particularly quick in the first two races, and Red Bull is eager to find pace wherever possible for both Max and the incoming Yuki Tsunoda.

"There was a very constructive meeting last Thursday, Max with the engineers, and they discussed how to go forward to improve the car and make it more drivable and to have a wider range of drivability, and all that went very positive," Marko added.

Marko and the company are banking on Yuki's confidence in F1, and handling different cars will help him adjust and work his way up the grid, so Verstappen can help fight the other drivers at the top.

Also, the Constructor's Championship requires both drivers to perform well over the year, and the hope is that Yuki can deliver better results that aid each race weekend's points totals.

“Tsunoda made a big step. Now in his fifth year, he’s a much stronger personality. He changed his management, he’s far more mature. He has more confidence and he did do very good races [in Australia and China], it’s just the strategy didn’t work at Racing Bulls. But in this case with a very difficult car, experience is something which will help," Marko said.

“On the other hand, we have two drivers for the constructors’ championship but also to support Max strategy-wise — if you have two drivers top five or eight, it is easier to max a strategy that favors the number-one driver.”