Liam Lawson's time at Red Bull Racing may be drawing to a close far sooner than anticipated.
While Max Verstappen presses on for a fifth straight world championship, Lawson has lagged at the back of the field in Shanghai, following an equally lacklustre debut with the team in Australia.
"It takes time," the 23-year-old said, "but unfortunately I don't have that. The window in which a car works is so small and I seem to be missing it."
Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher believes the New Zealander is set to join a long list of drivers outpaced by Verstappen and then ejected from the sister seat, including Sergio Perez, Alex Albon, and Pierre Gasly.
"You can see that Lawson's self-confidence is already shattered," Schumacher told Sky Deutschland. "He's saying he doesn't have time, which makes me think something has already happened behind the scenes.
"That's difficult for such a young man."
Red Bull adviser Dr Helmut Marko made it clear the team cannot sustain a championship bid with a driver finishing last.
"This is not what we expected," he said, after Lawson qualified at the rear for the second time in one weekend.
"We will discuss this calmly. We have a few drivers who are coming up. Thank God, we are well positioned."
The next stop is Suzuka, Yuki Tsunoda's home grand prix.
"In Japan?" the Racing Bulls driver replied when asked if he'd step into Lawson's seat. "Yeah, 100 per cent. I mean, the car is faster."
A team representative quickly halted further questions to Tsunoda.
Marko, 81, appears to have another contender in mind.
"Let's look at the positive," the Austrian said on Saturday. "Isack Hadjar, who has never driven on this track before, is setting incredible times in his second race and making no mistakes.
"Yuki is right behind him, but Yuki is in his fifth season while Isack is completely new. And then he sets such a time!
"So far, what he's shown is absolutely fascinating. In Australia, his performance was also sensational until the accident. That can happen - it's happened to others.
"The sun and the shadow are close together, and we'll see what happens," added Marko, who just last week called Hadjar's tears after a formation lap crash "embarrassing".
Pressed on whether a driver swap is imminent, he said: "Formula 1 is a competitive sport and Lawson isn't delivering the performance what we expect from him. Ultimately, that's what counts.
"We are going to analyse the whole weekend, and then we will see what we are going to do," Marko also told Viaplay. "At the moment Liam is the one who is behind."
