Even for a team like Red Bull Racing – which has never been shy to make bold driver decisions – demoting one of its Formula 1 drivers so early in a season is seismic.
Liam Lawson will make way for Yuki Tsunoda, who takes over the Red Bull drive as Lawson is dropped into the Racing Bulls ‘junior’ team.
In what boss Christian Horner has called “a purely sporting decision”, Lawson’s struggles in the RB21 alongside four-time world champion Max Verstappen have been too much, and Red Bull says it has a “duty of care to protect Liam” by rebuilding his confidence at the second-string team.
While undoubtedly important news in the world of motorsport, where’s the rallying relevance? Why am I reading this on DirtFish, you may ask.
Well certainly in this writer’s opinion, it’s reminiscent of a World Rally Championship switch that unfolded 15 years ago – albeit under different circumstances.
In the rallying example, it was a case of the ‘junior’ driver outperforming rather than the senior one necessarily underperforming.
Ogier worked his way up to second in the 2010 standings thanks to a first career win in Portugal
Back in 2010, manufacturer involvement in the WRC was even lower than it is now, with just Citroën and Ford competing at the top level. But each had its own second team – just like Red Bull has Racing Bulls in F1.
For Ford, that was badged the Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team, while Citroën’s operated under a more conspicuous moniker of Citroën Junior Team.
Keeping up the F1 connection, 2007 F1 world champion Kimi Räikkönen was one of the Citroën Junior Team drivers for his first full season in the WRC in what proved to be a brief career break from circuit racing. Räikkönen was paired with 2008 Junior WRC champion Sébastien Ogier, who at this stage had clocked a season’s worth of experience in a C4 WRC.
Citroën’s works team consisted of then six-time champion Sébastien Loeb and Dani Sordo – a lineup it was retaining for a fifth successive season.
The last thing anyone would have expected was any change, particularly as Citroën had just won the last two manufacturers’ titles in 2008 and ’09 after two years of Ford nicking the spoils.
But if Ogier has proved anything throughout his long and successful career, it’s that he was never destined to be second – second overall, or in any kind of ‘second’ team.
Sordo started the season in the Citroën works team, but that privilege would soon be partially revoked
Sordo had a stronger start to the season than Ogier – the pair finishing fourth and fifth respectively in Sweden – but over the next five (gravel) rallies the Spaniard failed to score twice and only grabbed one podium place.
By contrast, Ogier was never outside the top-six and grabbed three podiums – one of which was a victory; a particularly important milestone as Sordo was still yet to win a round of the WRC at this time.
After Ogier’s victory in Portugal, he was up to second in the championship behind only Loeb. Sordo was sixth, 39 points worse off. It was clear a new star had arrived.
With memories of Loeb’s 2009 – where he won the first five rallies but a mid-season dip almost cost him the title – still fresh in the mind, and Ogier’s potential hidden in plain sight, Citroën made a big decision.
Just one week after Rally Portugal, it confirmed that Ogier would represent the works team on the gravel rallies thereafter – Finland, Japan and GB – while Sordo (very much seen as more of an asphalt driver) would stay in the #2 C4 WRC for the Tarmac rounds in Bulgaria, Germany, France and Spain.
In this instance, Citroën’s switch clearly differs to Red Bull’s as the drivers ultimately interchanged – although who knows if the Tsunoda/Lawson swap before the Japanese Grand Prix proves to be the last!
But unlike in F1, both Ogier and Sordo were driving the same specification of car on all rounds in 2010. It was just the manufacturer points they were contributing to that differed – on paper at least.
There was also clearly an effect on confidence and career momentum: for the better for Ogier, for the worse for Sordo.
And intriguingly, examining Citroën racing director Olivier Quesnel’s statement at the time, it’s very reminiscent of Horner’s today – particularly the latter half.
“Even if we currently hold the advantage in both World Rally Championship classifications, we need to make sure that every opportunity comes our way,” Quesnel said.
Ogier was promoted to the works outfit on gravel events - including Japan, which he won
“The 2009 season showed just how easily a favorable situation can reverse itself. Looking at the way things have gone in the first part of the season, it seems that Sébastien Ogier and [his co-driver] Julien Ingrassia would be able to help us to achieve our objectives on gravel.
“But I do not want people to think that this reflects in any way badly on Dani Sordo and [his co-driver] Marc Martí. They have had a slightly troubled start to the season and they need to get their confidence back.
“Driving in the Citroën Junior Team will give them the chance to compete without pressure and rediscover their form. Given the performance of our crews since the start of the season, I think that this will be the best line-up to help us meet our targets.”
The wind was only blowing in one direction, though.
Even before the first rally (Bulgaria) after this arrangement was announced, Ogier’s management arranged talks with Ford – a move most certainly designed to put pressure on Citroën.
Ogier earned a full-season as Loeb's team-mate for 2011, but a tumultuous year meant he left at the end of it
A week after Bulgaria, it was then confirmed Ogier would partner Loeb for the full 2011 season.
At the time Sordo was not excluded from Citroën’s lineup, but the Spaniard could see the writing splattered all over the wall. He explored options at Ford but eventually signed for Mini which joined the championship part-time in 2011.
Ironically, over the last seven rounds of the season where the drivers were intermittently swapped, it was Sordo who outperformed Ogier 101 points to 79.
A fitting metaphor for the current Formula 1 situation perhaps, depending on the viewpoint you subscribe to.
