Red Bull Racing - Is their second seat ill-fated?
- Maria Rodriguez
- Apr 3
- 6 min read
Written by Maria Rodriguez, Edited by Julia Bissessar
With the relatively quick turnaround of the second seat at Red Bull Racing, it leaves one to question: Is the seat cursed?
After lacklustre performances for Liam Lawson at both race weekends in the 2025 Formula One season, Red Bull Racing swapped him for Yuki Tsunoda. Tsunoda will have his Red Bull debut at his home race in Japan this week. Despite a contract renewal, Lawson was promoted to Red Bull after Sergio Pérez departed the team last year.
Pérez became the media’s scapegoat and was blasted for his inability to score points. Red Bull looked for an answer for their second seat and turned to Lawson. However, Lawson has faced the same struggle with only two races so far, which draws the question: what is happening with Red Bull?
Red Bull faces a situation where Max Verstappen wins championships and their second driver is left to fend for themselves. Although this has been elevated since Daniel Ricciardo’s departure, this is not a new problem for the team.
The problems that come with being Red Bull’s second driver have been pointed out since Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were teammates.
Mark Webber
Mark Webber joined Red Bull in 2007 and faced a tough season, retiring in seven races. He encountered a crash with Vettel in a Toro Rosso at the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix. This was only the beginning of the Vettel and Webber era of Red Bull.
In 2010, Red Bull’s biased treatment of their drivers came to the forefront of discussion with Webber taking notice of the favouritism surrounding Vettel.
Red Bull brought forth an updated front wing for their drivers that weekend. Vettel’s front wing broke off during practice on Saturday and the team chose to replace it with the updated wing, that is, Webber’s front wing. The reason for giving Vettel the front wing was that he was leading the championship and needed the help.
Regardless, Webber was upset over Vettel being prioritised. Once the Australian driver crossed the finish line for the win, he voiced his thoughts on the radio: “Not bad for a number two driver.”
Things came to a head in 2013. During the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix, Red Bull gave us one of the most infamous Formula 1 sayings: “Multi 21, Seb!”. Webber had been leading the race with Vettel closing in, but Red Bull had ordered: “Multi map 2-1.”
It was the order that Webber, car number two, was to stay ahead of Vettel in car number one. Vettel defied the orders and overtook for the win, further cementing the number two driver treatment on Webber. After the end of this dramatic season, Mark Webber retired, ending this era of Red Bull. Vettel later left the team to join Scuderia Ferrari in 2014.
Daniel Ricciardo
Following Webber’s exit, Daniel Ricciardo joined Red Bull as their second driver and Vettel’s teammate for two seasons. In 2016, Red Bull found a new pairing that proved to be successful in Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.
The two brought the wins Red Bull was looking for. However, Ricciardo left the team in 2018, citing that he did not think he could beat Verstappen. Since then, it has been a repetitive cycle of dropping second drivers.
Pierre Gasly
Pierre Gasly debuted in 2017 with Toro Rosso, replacing former driver Daniil Kvyat. The following year, he was promoted to Red Bull Racing with the departure of Ricciardo.
However, Gasly struggled with qualifying and scoring points. He only competed 12 races with Red Bull before he was demoted back to Toro Rosso and only managed to score 63 points with the team. Gasly became the first in the series of recent Red Bull drivers to receive the second seat treatment as Verstappen’s teammate.
Red Bull turned to their junior drivers for Gasly’s replacement ahead of the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix.
Alex Albon
Albon was a rookie driver with Toro Rosso, but he had to quickly adapt to the mid-season switch to Red Bull. In the nine remaining races, Albon’s and Gasly’s performance would be evaluated. Albon excelled in these races with Red Bull, managing to score 76 out of his 92 points with his new team.
It was determined that Albon would be driving with Verstappen for the 2020 season. However, things started to take a turn as Albon’s performance started declining throughout the season. He managed to score two podiums but he suffered a series of no-point finishes, ending with only 105 points.
In 2023, Albon opened up on the High Performance podcast about the difference in how driving styles affect Red Bull’s second drivers. He described Verstappen’s driving style to be “unique” and “eye-watering” as opposed to his smooth driving style. Verstappen drives to the limits of the car, making it difficult for his teammates to keep up. This difference results in second drivers taking more risks, possibly crashing, and losing confidence in their driving.
Albon was later demoted to test and reserve driver for 2021, with the second Red Bull seat vacant once again.
Sergio Pérez
Pérez is notable for being Verstappen’s longest-standing teammate. He joined the team in 2021, after his impressive maiden win at the Sakhir Grand Prix. Pérez was replaced by Vettel at Racing Point, rebranded to Aston Martin.
During the 2021 season, Pérez quickly rose to victory and podiums in races. He ended the season fourth in the championship with 190 points and aided in Verstappen’s first Drivers’ Championship win. The success carried on into 2022, with more wins and podiums, amounting to 390 points and third in the standings.
This showed that Red Bull made the right move with Pérez. He was proving his success and contributing to the team, as they wanted. Pérez finished second in the Drivers’ Championship in 2023. This marked the first 1-2 finish in Red Bull history, despite their previous struggles.
While the 2023 season was successful for Red Bull, problems started arising for Pérez halfway into the season. Pérez finished the Spanish Grand Prix in fourth place when he noticed issues within the RB-20. Verstappen won and achieved a grand slam that weekend by starting from pole position, leading every lap and setting the fastest lap.
Pérez’s struggles only worsened throughout the season. He only managed to score five podiums in the remaining races of 2023.
Horner revealed to Auto Motor und Sports in September 2024 that the underbody upgrades from the 2023 Spanish Grand Prix for the car were not working as intended. Yet, Red Bull chose to ignore this issue. Horner admitted: “We just didn’t take it so seriously because Max kept winning.”
Red Bull had a historic 2023 season, winning 19 out of 22 races. Pérez won 2 of those races, and Carlos Sainz won in Singapore, the only non-Red Bull driver to win a race in 2023. Verstappen won the other 19, which support Horner’s statement: Max had no trouble with the car.
For Pérez, his struggles with the car started being highlighted by the media. They continued into 2024, not just for Pérez, but for Verstappen as well. Verstappen started to complain about the driveability of the car.
Rumors ensued that Pérez would be dropped mid-season, but they were shut down with a contract renewal extending his stay to the 2026 season. Regardless, the attention was on his performance, with the knowledge that Red Bull had a reputation for dropping drivers. In the off-season, it was confirmed that Pérez would depart from the team.
Liam Lawson
Lawson carried the hopes of becoming the next Red Bull success. He was only given two races of the 2025 season to prove himself before being demoted to the junior team. He did not live up to the standards that Red Bull was looking for and they wasted no time in moving to the next driver: Yuki Tsunoda
Number two drivers are not uncommon, but the situation plays differently at Red Bull. Drivers have felt ignored and not supported in the team environment. A team that has been infamous for dropping drivers, Liam Lawson is just the latest driver to face the Red Bull fate.
It remains to be seen if Yuki Tsunoda will stand the test of time at Red Bull. There is immense pressure on the young driver switching teams for his home race in Japan this week.
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