11 F1 driver demotions just as brutal as Liam Lawson’s swap

Liam Lawson’s demotion from Red Bull to Racing Bulls came as a surprise — but he isn’t the only driver to be so brutally chopped during a Formula 1 season.

We’re digging into some of the most brutal demotions that have take place throughout F1 history.

Luigi Fagioli

Perhaps not a demotion in the sense we’d understand today, but at the 1951 French Grand Prix, Luigi Fagioli was pushed aside so dramatically that he chose to retire.

Fagioli returned to Alfa Romeo for that race, hoping to prove himself for a seat in the future. However, when he arrived in the pit lane for his first fuel stop, the team ordered him to climb out and hand the car over to the team’s first driver Juan Manuel Fangio, whose Alfa had retired 10 laps into the race.

So furious at the slight was Fagioli that he retired on the spot. Fangio, for his own part, brought their shared car home for a victory.

Graham Hill

Graham Hill was a two-time Formula 1 champion and an Indianapolis 500 winner when he was demoted in 1970.

At the end of the 1969 season, Hill had broken both of his legs in a Lotus crash; over the off-season, Colin Chapman had determined that his former star was simply unable to maintain his pace and instead placed him with Rob Walker’s team, which ran Lotuses.

Hill remained in F1 for several years after, albeit without the success he once had.

Ayrton Senna

Brazilian legend was one driver who faced his own strange kind of “demotion.”

In 1984, Senna had made his Formula 1 debut for Toleman, making 12 starts before he was suspended by the team for one race.

Why? Well, he had inked a deal with Lotus for the following year, and Toleman weren’t happy. Though Senna had a buy-out clause in his contract, the team needed to be made aware of a potential swap before the buy-out happened. When that didn’t happen, Toleman benched him for the Italian Grand Prix.

Roberto Moreno

Roberto Moreno looked like a strong contender for the Benetton team, but as the 1991 season got underway, it was clear that wouldn’t be the case. Neither Moreno nor teammate Nelson Piquet Sr. were competing at a high level, and the team’s management was ready for a swap.

After being overshadowed in Belgium, Moreno was dropped at Benetton in favor of an impressive Michael Schumacher. With an open seat at Jordan vacated by Schumacher, Moreno was invited to take that role.

Yuji Ide

A 31-year-old rookie making his debt with Super Aguri in 2006, Yuji Ide’s F1 career couldn’t last particularly long.

In May, the team announced that Ide would be demoted back to reserve driver role, being replaced by Franck Montagny as a result of his inexperience. Not long after, the FIA revoked Ide’s super license.

Sebastien Bourdais

French racer Sebastien Bourdais had won four consecutive Champ Car titles before making his Formula 1 debut in 2007 with Toro Rosso — only to be dropped midway through the 2009 season in favor of Jaime Alguersuari.

The team stated that Bourdais had not met his expectations — and Bourdais took the team to court in return.

More on Liam Lawson and Red Bull driver swaps:

👉 All the mid-season driver swaps Red Bull have made in their F1 history

👉 Red Bull’s seven shortest driver stints – and why they ended

Pedro de la Rosa

Though it wouldn’t be the end of his Formula 1 career, Pedro de la Rosa was dropped by Sauber in 2010 due to a lack of performance.

In his place, the team promoted Nick Heidfeld – and de la Rosa was demoted to the role of Pirelli test driver, which Heidfeld had held prior to his Sauber promotion.

Narain Karthikeyan

After five years away from Formula 1, Narain Karthikeyan rejoined the field with the Hispania Racing Team, only to go on to set several records for the lowest-placed finisher in any F1 race (24th).

Midway through the 2011 season, Hispania dropped Karthikeyan in favor of Daniel Ricciardo. The Red Bull junior being evaluated for a future role at Toro Rosso, and Toro Rosso effectively orchestrated the deal.

Nick Heidfeld

Also in 2011, Renault announced that Nick Heidfeld and Bruno Senna would share pre-season testing duties with the intention of determining which of the two would earn a full-season seat.

That seat ultimately went to Heidfeld, but it was a difficult season that saw the German regularly damaging his car. As a result, he was demoted to reserve driver role, with Senna promoted. Heidfeld left Renault soon after.

Daniil Kvyat

Russian racer Daniil Kvyat had been promoted to Red Bull after two years with Toro Rosso, racing alongside Daniel Ricciardo — yet after just a year and a half, Red Bull decided to demote Kvyat in 2016.

The Russian had had a deeply challenging start to the year, and when he collided with Sebastian Vettel’s car at his home race, the team swapped Kvyat with a rising star named Max Verstappen.

Pierre Gasly

Pierre Gasly is another driver who experienced a Red Bull promotion turned Toro Rosso demotion demotion. After a little more than one full season with the junior team, Gasly was promoted to Red Bull Racing in 2019… and then demoted after just 11 races.

Christian Horner stated that Gasly hadn’t been able to extract the most from the car, and that the Red Bull team was keen to find a driver prepared to compete against Max Verstappen in 2020.

Read next: Is Liam Lawson a victim of F1’s restrictive testing regulations?