I have to ask where exactly the atrocious treatment of Liam sits in your "the second drivers only suffer bc racism" theory.
first of all, the second drivers don’t “only suffer because of racism.” they all suffer. Pierre and Liam have also suffered, and Mark Webber if we want to extend it even further back.
the reason I focus on the Redbull drivers who are POC (Alex, Checo, Yuki, Isack, and the future Arvid and Iwasa) is because there is additional workplace abuse that they suffer BECAUSE of the racism that exists in redbull, and nobody tends to acknowledge these layers so that’s why I talk about it as my main focus.
I’ll cover all second RB drivers as a wide generalization, but here’s the thing: RB definitely knows how to pick talented drivers. Max, Sebastian, Liam, Pierre, Yuki, Alex, Checo, etc. are all talented. The problem is they don’t cultivate these future second drivers to mentally prepare them for their role in Redbull, and they definitely do not do much to support them in the garage to build them to success. The main reason Checo lasted the longest was because he was an older, more mature driver who WAS 100% aware of the role he was signing on to. not because redbull actively helped him in any way.
Liam’s career is rough because he really should’ve in daniel’s seat a lot earlier. But they held him back because they favored daniel so much more over Yuki (no matter how much Yuki kept beating daniel) until they realized too late that if they wanted to move things forward in the VCARB -> RB system that they’d actually have to let Liam get his feet wet and actually race. But it was so late that it caused such a mess regarding Liam, Yuki and Checo all gunning for the same seat and causing messy infighting instead of just setting things straight about who would succeed who. (Part of which was again caused by Redbull negotiations because they were trying to pressure Checo into just quitting instead of paying out his contract like he was rightfully demanding).
If we were going by meritocracy, Yuki should’ve gotten the RB seat first since he was there first and already beat three teammates in a row including Liam. This would’ve given Liam enough time to really settle into F1 comfortably at VCARB like we’re seeing now. But instead, they lured Liam in with false hopes about becoming a success at RB by praising his aggressiveness and tenacity (traits which they actively scolded in Yuki Checo and Isack). When Liam didn’t immediately deliver like they were hoping, because once again, nobody would be able to do anything in that car except Max. Then RB, namely Horner panicked, tried to undo his choice and switch to Yuki. This obviously makes even more of a mess because its now clear to everyone that RB is a horror show.
If Horner was still there, they would’ve switched Yuki for Isack the second he podiumed. Mekkies kept Yuki because 1) he believed Yuki deserved a full chance and 2) Redbull desperately needed some sort of consistency and stability for the rest of the year so switching back to Liam or changing to Isack would’ve been even messier. If Liam was still in the redbull seat when Mekkies got there he probably would’ve kept Liam there too.
The thing is, even though the order of operations sucked for him, this has all worked out for the benefit of Liam. He got to go back to a team with a working car and wasn’t constantly scrutinizing him, he’ll get to be the one to stay on the grid next year and have another shot at Redbull. Marko and the board will keep Liam because RB still believes he has a higher ceiling and better attitude than Yuki even though they’re pretty similar in abilities and driving attitude. Does this mean I want Liam gone? Honestly i think they should keep everyone as is. Logically, if they want Arvid Lindblad to have the greatest chance of success they should have Max, Yuki, Liam and Isack develop their respective cars in 2026. But they aren’t doing that because RB keeps wanting to throw things at the wall until it works and burn everyone who doesnt deliver instantly. and it won’t work until they get another generational talent like Max again.
