Liam Lawson hoped the Red Bull Formula 1 team would have factored in problems outside his control that hampered his early races and his lack of knowledge of the first two circuits before switching him with Yuki Tsunoda.
Following disappointing results from Lawson in the opening two grands prix of the season, Red Bull has made a driver change from this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.
Lawson has been sent back to Racing Bulls, while Tsunoda is being given a golden opportunity to prove his talent with promotion to the main Red Bull squad.
While Lawson's poor form was undeniable, he equally bore the brunt of some extreme circumstances – suffering reliability problems in testing, losing a practice session in Australia and then facing a wet race in Melbourne and a hectic sprint weekend in China. He was experiencing both circuits for the first time too, but knows this weekend's venue Suzuka well from racing in Super Formula.
Asked by The Race ahead of the Japanese GP whether he felt - given everything he encountered - he could have turned things around if given more time, Lawson replied: "In Formula 1, it's motorsport; we have issues, that's part of it, especially with these cars that are pushing the limits like they are.
"I'd maybe hoped that that would be taken into consideration more and that's why for me it was important to come to a place that I'd raced before and driven before.
"Melbourne and China are both tough tracks and, with the way the weekends went, they weren't the smoothest.
"But it's motorsport and the decision was not mine, but I'll make the most of this one."
Surprised by call
While doubts about Lawson's future at Red Bull emerged over the Chinese Grand Prix weekend, the man himself said he was totally unaware about the prospect of being switched until after the weekend.
"I had no idea in China," he said. "It was something that was decided I guess the Monday or Tuesday afterwards. I found out after China, basically.
"It was, I think for all of us, probably more unexpected. But it was after the weekend."
Lawson said he had left Shanghai getting ready to race for Red Bull at Suzuka, prior to being informed via a phone call of the change of plan.
"It was more of a done deal, I would say," he said. "I left China starting preparations for Japan, and basically I had a phone call saying that this was what was going to happen."
The swiftness of Red Bull's decision to make a driver change after just two races is unprecedented, and Lawson admits he had not anticipated this situation.
Talking about his response to the call, Lawson said: "I was more surprised. Obviously it's very early in the season and I would say I was hoping to go to a track I'd raced before and have a clean weekend, to have a chance like that.
"The decision obviously was made when I was told, so although it was tough to hear, I had one or two days to think about it and then I was in Faenza with VCARB, starting preparations, seat fits and then you're basically just focused on the job at hand."
'Duty of care'
One of the explanations that Red Bull has given for switching drivers around so early in the season is that it felt it had a duty of care to protect Lawson from the challenging situation he found himself in.
It has been argued that his confidence had been impacted by the struggles he was facing to get on terms with the RB21 – and things could have got worse if results had not turned around.
But while a return to Racing Bulls will give Lawson a chance to rebuild his reputation, he is not convinced that it was necessarily an automatic better option than keeping him where he was and throwing full support behind him.
"I think confidence-wise it doesn't change a lot," he said. "We all have enough self-belief to be here, to make it to Formula 1.
"To be in this sport, if you don't have that self-belief, it makes it very, very difficult. I think we all have that naturally.
"It doesn't really change how I feel about myself. Obviously for me the best opportunity that I had was I felt with Red Bull Racing. That's where we're all working towards, that's what I was working towards since joining the junior programme as a 16-year-old.
"So obviously for me I'm going to feel like I would've liked to have made that opportunity work, and that's in my best interests.
"But obviously Christian [Horner] and the team will have their opinions on what's best. And that's up to them to decide."
While clearly Lawson would have preferred to have kept his seat at Red Bull and make the progress needed, he equally is aware that he still had a golden chance to impress at Racing Bulls with a car that appears to be more benign than the RB21 that he has battled with.
"We know how Formula 1 is and how quickly things change," he said. "If I look back a year ago, I had no seat, I was here a year ago watching and wishing I was racing.
"Then I had the opportunity to race last year, and the opportunity then to go to Red Bull Racing. So a lot has happened in 12 months.
"For me, the main thing is being in a car; I have an opportunity to prove why I belong here and that's what I'll try and do, and that's what I do every single time I get in the car. And that's what I'll be doing this weekend.
"Things change very, very quickly. In terms of where my future is, I don't know. And for me, the only way I can control that is by driving fast."
