The New Zealander has been dropped as world champion Max Verstappen's team-mate after poor performances in the opening two races of the season and Marko - who has an important role in driver selection at the team - acknowledged that the driver may have been elevated too soon.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast: "His performance was unfortunately not good enough and that comes from self-confidence."

Lawson will return to the Racing Bulls junior team - swapping seats with Japanese racer Yuki Tsunoda - but Marko claims that the move is "not a demotion" for the Kiwi.

The Austrian said: "He's not kicked out of F1 and Racing Bulls will give him the chance to recover and his career will start again."

Marko also stressed that Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon have gone on to have solid careers despite being dropped by Red Bull for being unable to match Verstappen.

He said: "For the benefit for him, he goes back to Racing Bulls, which has a car capable to be top 10 in qualifying and the race.

"Just look in the past, it was Gasly, it happened the same, also to Albon and they recovered and they are now competitive F1 drivers.

"On top of it, the RB21 is a car which is not the fastest car but nevertheless very difficult to drive and Max can handle but not at this stage Liam."

Lawson confessed on social media that he found his Red Bull exit "tough" but is looking forward to working with Racing Bulls again after previously representing the team for 11 races across 2023 and 2024.

The driver posted on Instagram: "Being a Red Bull Racing driver has been my dream since I was a kid, it's what I've worked towards my whole life.

"I'm grateful for everything that's brought me to this point. To every one of you who's stood by me, thank you for all the support. It means the world."