Yuki Tsunoda has officially been called up the senior Red Bull Racing team, replacing Liam Lawson, who managed just two races in the second seat beside four time World Champion Max Verstappen. Our F1 department give their takes on the very controversial topic ahead of the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix.
Red Bull seem to be in disarray - Carl Hilliard
Red Bull Racing looks very bad right now. They fully committed to one driver, that being Lawson, and presented him as the future of the team. However, two races in and they’ve axed him already? Way to support your young drivers. Tsunoda deserves this seat, but under very different circumstances.
While Tsunoda more than deserves this seat, the situation itself takes away from the actual idea of the Japanese driver being promoted because he deserves it - there's a sense of desperation here from Red Bull. Racing in a car that isn’t very good and lacks balance, at one of the top teams in the sport, and at your home race in Japan? That’s a lot of pressure.
Tsunoda deserves the seat for sure, but I think they gave up on Lawson a little too quickly, ruined his confidence and made themselves look a little stupid while doing so. It really doesn’t seem to matter who steps into that second RB21 car, they will not be able to do what Max Verstappen can, he’s simply untouchable when it comes to teammate battles. We have seen that time and time again.
However, Red Bull being completely unable to back their younger second drivers is a huge problem. With Lawson, we have seen first hand that they will not support or give their drivers a fair shot, and they look very silly as a result of it all.
Red Bull’s Hire and Fire Culture Will Misfire – Meghana Sree
The second driver curse, high standards, or a ruthless baptism of fire. Call it what you want, but Red Bull’s hire and fire approach with any of their drivers not named Max Verstappen has crossed a line with their latest move. Deciding to swap Lawson for Tsunoda is a result of Red Bull’s indecision and inability to assess their drivers before locking in line-ups.
Based on pure experience, Tsunoda should’ve been the top pick early on. Lawson is still a rookie and does need time to familiarise himself with not only the car, but also the many tracks he’s not driven at previously. Expecting him to be impressively consistent in just two races, the first of which was a gruelling race even for veterans, is a hard ask.
That being said, if Red Bull saw no other option but having Lawson beside Verstappen, they should’ve stuck with that decision for a little longer to see if Lawson could build confidence. Booting Lawson right before Suzuka, a track he knows like the back of his hand, is simply cruel and insulting to all the time, effort and sacrifices that paved his way to Formula One’s top.
I believe this decision is yet another domino in Red Bull’s downfall as it betrays the unstable and distrusting environment within the team. Now, if even Tsunoda doesn’t perform in the RB21, then it’s most certainly an issue with the car itself; one that Verstappen is able to drive around for the time being. This messy situation that the team finds itself in is damaging for everyone involved, particularly Lawson’s career.
Red Bull jumped the gun with the Lawson-Tsunoda driver swap - Rohan Brown
In previous years, Red Bull garnered a reputation for being trigger happy with how it dealt with its drivers - something that eventually stopped, until now. The sudden switch from Liam Lawson to Yuki Tsunoda is one that has the chance to work amazingly or fail spectacularly. The Japanese driver certainly deserved this seat, but the way which he gained it is not the way he should’ve earned it.
This sudden move is one that I think will not work out (as of right now), because it seems most of Red Bull’s woes stem from car issues. So this is more of a detriment to Lawson’s career, robbing the Kiwi of a Red Bull seat so early on into the season isn’t something the Milton-Keynes-based outfit has done since the Danill Kvyat-Max Verstappen swap in 2016 (a swap equally rooted in controversy too).
Therefore, my view is that this move was an impulsive decision which could work out effectively, with Tsunoda earning a well-deserved spot at Red Bull’s senior team, at the cost of Lawson’s short-lived career at the current constructors’ champions.
This decision is one of many made by Red Bull that have proven to be quick moves that have not always been beneficial to the team in any sense. So this has the potential to either provide benefits to the team, or just to be another idea that falls flat.
Red Bull’s Tsunoda move is one of a desperate team running out of options - Peter Johnson
I was uneasy about the promotion of Liam Lawson to Red Bull at the expense of Yuki Tsunoda from the beginning. I felt that Tsunoda had earned his stripes over four years at RB, demonstrating an ever-increasing maturity, race craft and outright speed. He was, in my view, the next in line to have a shot at the Red Bull drive.
However, it has always appeared that he has never fully had the backing of the Red Bull hierarchy, with the decision to promote Lawson underlining the argument that they do not rate Tsunoda’s long-term potential. With RB’s partnership with Honda ending at the end of the season and both Red Bull seats filled, it appeared Tsunoda’s Formula One career was on the ropes, or at least his affiliation with Red Bull.
The decision, therefore, to promote the Japanese driver so suddenly despite previously not having rated him highly enough for a drive at Red Bull proves to me that the team is becoming desperate. In my view, Tsunoda has been promoted simply because Red Bull had nobody else to turn to.
This is not because I don’t rate Tsunoda - I think he is a fabulous driver - but because I feel that it is a last-ditch attempt by a hierarchy who have not previously valued his talent to try to salvage their constructors’ world championship campaign.
With all of this said, although I disagreed with the decision to promote Lawson, I do think he deserved more time. Suzuka should theoretically be his strongest circuit on the calendar, and if he had struggled there then maybe conversations would have needed to be had. I think the move to RB will ultimately benefit him because it seems a naturally easier car to drive, while I fear Tsunoda may have accelerated his journey to the Formula One exit door if he does not hit the ground running.
Red Bull continuing to do Red Bull things - Christopher Conway
In classic Red Bull fashion, we see another junior talent axed from the top team. This one feels a bit more extreme than anything we’ve seen from the Milton Keynes outfit. Hastily promoting a young driver into the highest of seats at the pinnacle of motorsport, and then axing that driver is a horrendous move.
It must not be forgotten that Liam Lawson is still a young man who moved across the planet to pursue the dream of racing in F1 and winning a World Championship, and for it to be over in two races on circuits he’s never raced on before seems a bit unfair.
The seat should have been given to Yuki Tsunoda, who has performed extremely well and grown as a driver in the past few years at Alpha Tauri and Racing Bulls. But to carry out a switch so early in the season and dent the confidence of a young driver is extremely damning to see.
Lawson is a driver who has performed at a very high level, finishing runner-up in DTM and competing for a title in Super Formula, two championships that shouldn't be frowned upon. Time will tell us if Red Bull will regret the decision to axe a driver and put in another hopeful in a car that seems complicated to drive. Hasty decisions might come back to bite Red Bull if they can’t hold onto their number one driver, Max Verstappen, in the years going forward.
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