In the round-up: Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has explained why they chose Liam Lawson instead of Yuki Tsunoda to join them for 2025.
In brief
Tsunoda ‘wants to prove us wrong’ – Horner
Red Bull passed over Tsunoda, who has four years of experience in F1, to hire Lawson, who has started just 11 races. Horner said the team felt Lawson had shown he was the better choice to go up against Max Verstappen.
“We felt that Liam’s trajectory, together with his mental strength and resilience, were the right assets to partner Max next year,” he told Talksport. “Because arguably that seat is the toughest in Formula 1, going up against Max Verstappen, who is at the peak of his career.”
Horner said Tsunoda was inevitably disappointed at being overlooked for a promotion to the top team. “I spoke to him a short while ago and he’s more motivated than ever,” he said. “He wants to prove us wrong, obviously.
“As I said to him, this sport moves so quickly, this industry moves so quickly, he just needs to keep doing a great job in the Racing Bulls team. He’s got a lot of talent, he drove our car at a test just a week or so ago as we wanted to really evaluate him and really impressed the engineering staff.”
Liberty Media delays date to complete Moto GP deal
Formula 1 commercial rights holder Liberty Media says it is confident the European Union will approve its bid to take over Moto GP after the European Commission announced earlier this week it would investigate the deal.“We are confident this transaction will benefit Moto GP’s business, fans, viewers and the broader motorcycle industry. Market participants have widely recognised the benefits of the transaction,” said Liberty Media in a statement.
“There is a very large and growing market for audiovisual entertainment well beyond sports, and this transaction will enhance Moto GP’s ability to compete in this highly competitive market.
“We will continue to work with the European Commission as they progress their review and have agreed with the sellers to an extension of the longstop date to June 30, 2025 in order to accommodate the more in-depth investigation.”
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Bortoleto claims Hubert Award as top rookie in 2024 (Formula 2)
'I heard a lot about him, about how much of a great guy he was - not just as a driver but as a person. I never met him properly, just once or twice in my life, but I’m hugely appreciative to be awarded this trophy as the rookie of the season. It means a lot to me.'
'The question is not whether we can afford to bring Formula 1 back to South Africa, but rather whether we can afford not to. I believe we cannot afford not to,' added the Minister, emphasising that the Government of National Unity under President Cyril Ramaphosa was fully behind the plan to back F1’s return.'
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Comment of the day
Franco Colapinto’s performance as a substitute at Williams impressed MichaelN:
Those graphs are more impressive than I had assumed; well done to Colapinto! He set himself up for a rough end to the season with crashing a car that was already running a refurbished ‘v4’ set of parts, but on the whole he certainly didn’t embarrass himself.
Unfortunately for him, I doubt the brief hype that already started to fade in the latter races will sustain him for another year. He’ll want to find a place to race – and win – in 2025 if he wants to do more F1 races in 2026 and beyond.
MichaelN
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Arun Srini, Fastmovingthoughts, Stig 3 and Dom!
Rahim.RG
22nd December 2024, 3:19
Tbh, i feel this is exactly what Yuki needed. Rejection, being treated unfairly, making him feel unseen and small or irrelevant. All of this will only fire him up. Considering how much he’s matured and how he’s learnt to channel his anger and frustration on the track I think he’s going to take himself to another level in terms of personal growth. It sucks to be in his position and be treated like this after all his hard work. But this feeling is quite a powerful one and I hope it empowers and uplifts him to a level where he no longer needs to be a Racing bull driver to be in Formula 1.
thegamer23
23rd December 2024, 10:25
He’s a good driver, but overrated.
Zero junior titles, he’s there mostly because of the Honda link.
Lawson almost matched him from the get go despite MUCH less seat time.
Easy choice for Red Bull.
El Pollo Loco
23rd December 2024, 17:55
Lawson also had zero junior titles and couldn’t even beat his rookie teammate Logan Sargeant in his second year of F2. So, this is a bizarre argument to make in favor of Lawson. Not saying Yuki is great, but he’s a lot more ready right now than Lawson. Maybe Lawson will be great, but this was not the sensible choice in the short term and there’s a seat for Liam to develop in.
Le Jimster (@lejimster82)
23rd December 2024, 22:20
That was F3 and Sargeant was driving in the best team next to Piastri who annihilated him. In F2 Lawson beat Sargeant when they were in the same team.
Liam won a NZ series and TRS came runner up in 5 other junior series and runner up in DTM and Super Formula. Being a bit of a stats nerd I found out Liam has drove at one point or another on 20 of next years tracks and he’s won races at 9 of them. If F2 meant everything Drugovich would be in a seat and Bearman and Kimi wouldn’t be driving next year. You have to look at the bigger picture.
Le Jimster (@lejimster82)
23rd December 2024, 22:44
Annihilate might be a bit harsh, I would edit that part out if I could. Sargeant did much better in F3 than I remembered and yet he didn’t show that level in F1 whereas Lawson has shown glimpses of great form at several races already. I will be gobsmacked if he doesn’t immediately do a much better job than Perez did last year.
El Pollo Loco
24th December 2024, 3:43
They were F2 teammates and Lawson only beat Sargeant by a single point (again, in the same team) when Sargeant was an F2 rookie and Lawson was in the same team. Your post seems to be born of anger. Not sure why.
El Pollo Loco
24th December 2024, 3:45
Oh yes, I agree, Lawson will do infinitely better than Perez. I think RBR will ruin his career though. I think he’d likely be a solid journeymen level driver if he started at RB, but RBR may break him.
Rahim.RG
24th December 2024, 2:46
He’s there because of Honda link so what?? Is that a bad thing?? The reason Honda took him under their wings was because he is good and being a driver from a place like Japan, Honda know a talent needs to have a backing of a bigger name like them to be able to put a driver out there. Why do you think Honda were so persistent to let Yuki have a test and see how he does, despite them no longer being in F1 ?? When I see the trajectory of his growth and improvement in every area, I absolutely don’t think he’s over-rated. Sometimes you need a team and the people around you who believe in you to take that next step, which sadly I don’t think he ever got that kind of vibe or energy from Red Bull.
El Pollo Loco
24th December 2024, 4:52
Every driver is there because someone backed them and, aside from those backed by solely by family, it’s always because they have potential. Honda would not sponsor a driver they thought was useless.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
1st January 2025, 17:35
Lolz, the only thing Yuki will realize is that Japanese guys don’t really get a fair shake in European racing. Which is fine, and be even Great if racing series like JGTC (SuperGT before it went lame) or Formula Nippon (were unrestricted like F1) were still a thing.
To be fair, the whole American and euro scene is becoming very anti competitive, and Japan / China / Russia would do better to form quality trade + peace deals and start innovating in the territories where it’s not the blind leading the blind.
Make F1 great again, just unrestrict SuperGT / Formula Nippon, and tell the FIA/FOM to take a hike from all it’s circuits if the bankers and investors want to pull all their dollars because Japan won’t sully itself in the politically correct dumbing down of economics in the west.
Formula Nippon could become faster and cheaper than F1 in less than a handful of years.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
1st January 2025, 17:47
*FIM
Charlie Racing
22nd December 2024, 6:07
I think the ‘mental strength’ kind of confidence is exactly what will break him next to Verstappen. As we have seen before with for example Gasly.
El Pollo Loco
22nd December 2024, 22:00
The mental resilience thing is also purely an excuse they’re clinging on to with dear life because it’s the only popular narrative for why they might have done this (besides bitterness toward Honda) with the majority of fans and a lot of media pointing out that, even if you think Lawson has a higher ceiling, this decision still doesn’t make any sense. Instead of putting the experienced driver who has beaten the last three drivers they’ve thrown at him and allowing Liam to build up more experience, which would put them in a perfect position to swap in Liam if Yuki struggled, they’re now in a position where they’re risking destroying Liam’s career before it’s even started, they’ve alienated another driver and if Liam bombs it’ll be humiliating and therefore almost impossible for them to swap Yuki in.
Laz
23rd December 2024, 10:15
Yeah I agree I don’t buy the mental resilence thing. In his rookie season he lost confidence in the car after a bunch of crashes, it was nothing to do with Gasly outperforming him. He ended up having to rebuild his confidence in both the car and himself, since then he hasn’t looked back. In their second season they were much more equal together, in the second half of the year Tsunoda was even matching Gasly. So right there if anything shows a mental resilience as he didn’t let himself get destroyed. He figured it out and came back stronger. Since then Red Bull have spoken about every teammate being a potential candidate above him, and every time he has beaten them. He keeps being put down, and he keeps fighting on and coming out on top. Again doesn’t that show mental resilience?
They talk about Lawson’s mental resilience, but he’s done 11 grand prix. What mental resilience? He hasn’t shown anything yet. He hasn’t had enough time in the cockpit to be tested in any meaningful and show it. We have no idea what kind of driver Lawson really is, all we know is he’s currently over a tenth slower than Tsunoda on average. Which just makes the decision all the more baffling.
Jere (@jerejj)
22nd December 2024, 6:15
I’d already suspected mental strength to have been a factor before first reading about it from Marko, but both are right about this factor.
James Vowles’ tweet: I’d seen a video where he tries to operate a helicopter with both drivers on board, but I failed to realize he’d actually have a license for operating them.
COTD: Unfortunately for him, he barely has any racing options for next year after how late they waited before finally accepting that no team will offer him a 2025 drive anymore.
Antz (@antznz)
22nd December 2024, 6:58
Here’s another part of the puzzle re: Yuki. Ford is the partner Red Bull is working with for 2026. Ford is investing probably hundreds of millions? However Yuki performed, good or bad, it all gives Honda attention that Ford is paying a huge price for. Giving Yuki the drive would put pressure on the relationship ship with Ford for no reason. Liam could far more easily be used to promote the Ford brand. Plus he has proven to be at a similar level in a very short time frame.
Ultimately, Honda chose to pull out of F1. In doing so they jeopardized Yuki’s prospects at Red Bull. If Honda didn’t bail, I reckon there’s a good chance Yuki would be Max’s teammate next year.
Jere (@jerejj)
22nd December 2024, 7:00
I fully agree, even if I hadn’t truly thought about Ford before in these contexts.
Constantijn Blondel
22nd December 2024, 8:02
Yep, @antznz, excellent point. While reading various articles questioning Red Bull’s choice I kept thinking that, yes, I understand all the reasoning from ‘our’ side, but do we really know what kind of sponsor-contract-stuff factors into the whole selection process. As the saying goes ‘all else being equal …’ Red Bull’s decision making doesn’t seem to make sense … but ‘all else’ is not equal, and there’s a whole lot of ‘else’ we don’t really know anything about because they’re buried deep within contracts and don’t necessarily have a lot to do with the actual driving of cars fast around a closed circuit.
Thanks for sketching this scenario – it’s a good example of what I mean.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
22nd December 2024, 10:40
Yeah, very well put. I doubt Ford pressured for Liam, but you can see why Red Bull would want to keep things neat and tidy. A year or two down the line Yuki might’ve looked like a legacy of Red Bull – Honda, especially if Red Bull are 3rd fastest or so as they are now, it could be an uncomfortable reminder of the dominant times when there wasn’t a Ford logo on the car.
Coventry Climax
22nd December 2024, 11:07
That, in my eyes, is not just a piece of the puzzle, it’s a very large, if not just plain the major chunk of it.
We like to kid ourselves that driver quality is the only and utmost reason to pick them, while we all know how finance and show have become the actual no. 1 factors.
Sure, the combination is what they all strive for.
Below the surface, or between the lines if you will, of your insight here, @Antnz, I read a better documented, bigger and more logical ‘As expected’ than most any that we usually find here.
Lawson’s ability to keep his cool was already clear from his very first performance in F1 and commented on by many, both here and elsewhere, so there’s a ‘suspicion’ that was well in the open for quite some time already.
Better yet is that it fit’s your explanation -that I took the liberty of calling ‘the combination’ just now- even better.
notagrumpyfan
22nd December 2024, 11:33
We are not kidding ourselves. Driver quality is still the major driver for the top teams for their prime seat. Sponsorship and brand allegiance will follow those moves (e.g. Schumacher and now Hamilton).
The second seat is often more linked to sponsors, also because there is not a major (consistent) quality difference between the second tier drivers.
Coventry Climax
22nd December 2024, 15:53
This is NOT about the prime seat, it IS about second seat drivers.
El Pollo Loco
22nd December 2024, 22:11
100%, Coventry. RBR were not only totally perplexed, but utterly furious when in their eyes, Honda not only inexplicable left a winning team and then changed their mind and instead of coming back with them, went to AM, which caused all the following:
-first RBR went through the nightmare negotiations with Porsche that fell apart right at the finish line
-then, to retain the level of control they wanted, were forced to spend who knows how many hundreds of millions starting RBPT and being put in the awkward position of trying to recruit a manufacturer for an awkward badging exercise to boot
–worst of all, in partnership with Honda, Aston Martin nabbed their golden goose (Newey) and look poised to eventually take their golden boy too
I don’t think people understand how bitter Horner and co. are about this. The bitterness was oozing between the lines and explicitly in quotes from RBR in the weeks and months after Honda’s return was announced and that was before they grabbed Newey.
El Pollo Loco
22nd December 2024, 22:13
meant to end with: Did anyone think RBR was seriously going to reward their driver with that seat after what they saw as a huge betrayal of their team by Honda?
Bob
22nd December 2024, 11:20
Honda is lining up with Aston Martin, The team with Neway, that wants Max.
Edvaldo
22nd December 2024, 12:48
They changed their mind after Red Bull secured a deal with Ford.
Red Bull lost their engines because some Honda businessmen had a brain fart.
MichaelN
22nd December 2024, 11:56
The Honda angle is no doubt important, as it’s the only sensible explanation why Red Bull has kept Tsunoda around for four years. With Honda leaving Red Bull (for real this time!), I doubt he’ll be on the grid in 2026.
But would Ford really care? How many people outside of this bubble of ours, where we get interested to talk about driver moves in late December with no racing for months, really make that connection between Tsunoda and Honda? Plenty of drivers have had ties to other manufacturers or teams in their past, and other than a very rare moment (such as Red Bull-affiliated Albon at Williams ignoring blue flags in Monaco to hold up Ferrari while Red Bull stood to benefit) it never really comes into play. Even at the sharp end of the grid, the second someone puts on a new shirt, he’s ‘their guy’. I doubt Ferrari is worried Hamilton will seem ‘too Mercedesy’ when used in promotional events next season.
Antz (@antznz)
22nd December 2024, 12:44
It might not be a big deal for Ford. It’s just easier building new relationships when there aren’t reminders of your ex scattered around. It’s cleaner this way.
If Yuki was a potential world champion he would be promoted regardless. As someone else mentioned, the next tier of drivers are so evenly matched, so sponsors, affiliations or even political neutrality become more important.
Red Bull has a lot of stakeholders, Ford is just one. Small concessions and good will gestures now will help with future internal politics. We’ve seen how devastating Red Bull internal power struggles can be recently.
Jere (@jerejj)
24th December 2024, 21:09
MichaelN Red Bull may have still had an option on him in 2022, but other than this, he had zero affiliation left & certainly nothing contractual, & the Red Bull logo on his helmet was solely a reference to the brand’s Thai division, which is/was his personal sponsor.
His blatant blue-flag ignorance had nothing to do with him trying to benefit anyone or any team, especially as Latifi also ignored blue flags when ahead of Sainz, so purely coincidental.
Jere (@jerejj)
24th December 2024, 21:10
Besides, Yuki’s relationship with Honda is incomparable.
notagrumpyfan
22nd December 2024, 7:30
REVEALED: The F1 team bosses choose their top 10 drivers of 2024 (formula1.com)
“For the first time in the seven years we’ve done this ranking, a driver has received the maximum number of points, with team bosses voting unanimously to put Verstappen top of the pile.”
notagrumpyfan
22nd December 2024, 7:37
The interesting bit is though that Norris received 178 points.
I seems thus he got nine second place (18pts each), plus a third place (15pts, Vasseur?), plus a FLAP point (joker, MBS?).
BLS (@brightlampshade)
22nd December 2024, 10:14
Show’s how much WDC position plays into these sorts of rankings. Alonso down 7 places? Has he really been that much worse than last season, or is the car just significantly worse?
MichaelN
22nd December 2024, 11:58
There’s been more to talk about at the front of the grid, so the occasional midfield heroics gets less attention than in a season like 2023. Plus Albon’s new teammate has taken the shine off a bit, as people realised how slow Sargeant was. The many, many repair bills at Williams might also have soured the people who tend to have to pay for those.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd December 2024, 21:04
I’m surprised more people didn’t catch up to how slow sargeant was, you don’t lose against albon like that unless you’re not f1 material, albon wasn’t able to adapt to a top car the only chance he got.
El Pollo Loco
23rd December 2024, 18:12
@BrightLampShade – Yeah. It’s pretty clear this list is highly questionable at best, especially when you consider that Alonso, despite being by far and away the best driver in the midfield and the only driver to have an even higher % of his team’s points than Max, they put Hulkenberg higher despite Nico having a far better car for most of the season. Besides Max, he was the strongest driver in the field last season and while he was marginally less consistent. The main difference is that his car was trash for most of the season (after Australia it got less competitive race after after).
@esploratore1 – Yeah, Logan was utterly hopeless. Therefore, I’m not surprised Red Bull was so slow to promote Lawson considering he couldn’t outshine his teammate Logan in F2 despite LS being a rookie and LL being in his second season. They won’t promote a Honda driver, which is why they’ve made the crazy decision to throw Liam to the lions. F2 isn’t a perfect measuring tool because the cars aren’t all the same (but they were in this case) and some drivers respond better to the F1 chassis, but it is generally a pretty strong tool. The future stars win the title in their first season or nearly win it while drivers who win it in their second season are likely to be average to good. No F2 driver who has won the title in their third season or later has been a good F1 driver.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
22nd December 2024, 7:31
I have to say that that does sound like a well reasoned argument from Horner.
I am definitely going to be cheering for Yuki though next season.
Moi
22nd December 2024, 10:26
It is. I just think it is not necessary to air this publicly. Keep it behind closed doors.
Perhaps it is a management culture thing, but I would not feel the need to explain the perceived shortcomings of an employee to the press or anyone else for that matter. Feels cheap.
I generally enjoy Horner for his barbed comments towards Toto and Zak but this seems unnecessary.
Asanator (@asanator)
22nd December 2024, 19:35
Horner didn’t comment on Tsunoda’s mental strength etc. He praised Lawson’s. How you interpret that is up to you but he wasn’t
.
El Pollo Loco
23rd December 2024, 18:20
The mental resilience thing is a hilariously transparent excuse. Also, there’s a difference between mental resilience and a temper. Max is always screaming on the radio. It doesn’t affect his performance. This is all about Honda who:
-led to the Porsche debacle
-led to RBR needing to setup RBPT at massive expense only to change their mind and return with another team
-poached the golden goose Newey in partnership with AM
-are now threatening to poach the golden child Max
Red Bull is never promoting a Honda driver after that.
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
22nd December 2024, 8:09
Yuki need not worry. If Liam doesnt perform and he continues to improve he need only wait around four more seasons to be evaluated.
Jere (@jerejj)
22nd December 2024, 20:01
Four seasons? I don’t quite get the timeline reference unless you refer to the technical regulation changes following the upcoming ones or something about the Aston Martin-Honda partnership, which will definitely be a long-term thing.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd December 2024, 21:07
He’s talking about perez, who stayed at red bull 4 years, I think most of us agree he overstayed, I’d have fired him midway into 2023.
However I don’t think lawson will necessarily stay more than 1 season if he proves himself a disaster, not since they have tsunoda to try out as well.
Jere (@jerejj)
23rd December 2024, 12:15
@esploratore1 I finally get the four-season reference, but Tsunoda would be unlikely to receive a chance anymore, even if Lawson underperformed, as by that point, the Honda supply end would only be closer.
Therefore, Lawson stays throughout the season or would get replaced by someone from the outside.
BLS (@brightlampshade)
22nd December 2024, 10:12
I got a dressing down for questioning Yuki’s mental strength on here the other day and now Horner has come out and said it. I’m going to have to change my opinion now, I can’t be agreeing with Horner. Makes me feel dirty…
Moi
22nd December 2024, 10:30
I get where you are coming from but this is what is going wrong in the world – emotion over facts.”I feel” over “I know”. It is where a lot of the polarization comes from.
If someone you despise says something true, it is still true regardless of anyones feelings on the matter.
BLS (@brightlampshade)
22nd December 2024, 10:55
Always forget how badly sarcasm translates in the written word. It’s just too ingrained in British culture to cut out.
Coventry Climax
22nd December 2024, 11:12
I’m not British, but got it perfectly..
Also, I think it has charm, so please don’t change it.
Moi
22nd December 2024, 11:44
I got the sarcasm, though sarcasm is only effective with a base in truth, at least generally perceived truth.
Sergey Martyn
22nd December 2024, 10:58
I didn’t know Horner has a PhD in Psychiatry.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd December 2024, 21:10
Every day is a school day!
Coventry Climax
22nd December 2024, 11:16
Apparently the word ‘headline’ is added to the list of words that get your comments censored. Ugly.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd December 2024, 21:11
Wow, that’s extreme, I guess that’s cause of the many complaints about that I read recently.
Ajaxn
23rd December 2024, 0:52
This is the same borderline clap that Red Bull’s Helmut Marko came out with against Norris.
I also recall a similar line used against Perez when he wanted to challenge Verstappen for the championship.
“Let’s remember that he is South American and so his head is not as focused as Max Verstappen or as Sebastian Vettel was, ….. ”
Now here it is again in another guise being used as a matter of policy to undermine Yuki, and justify Lawson.
This is an international company with a global clientele using what amounts to a slur to justify one driver over another.. Shocking.
BenjaminS (@benihana)
23rd December 2024, 12:39
Wether it is politics or not that has robbed, for lack of a better word, Yuki of a red bull seat, that is one of the things of F1 I hate the most. I want the best drivers to move up and have equal chances at being in a too drive and while many don’t see Yuki as a top talent I truly believe he could do great in Red Bull that even Checo could not.
Leo B
23rd December 2024, 16:20
Well, Sainz has bags and bags of mental strength if that’s what you’re looking for.
Mkrkr
26th December 2024, 6:26
Not really, he’s made an abundance of silly errors with Ferrari
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
23rd December 2024, 18:27
Let’s not forget that Horner coined the term “Tsunoda’d”. As in we just got Tsunoda’d and he didn’t mean that in a good way.
sim
24th December 2024, 15:05
When Daniel did the test in the RB Christian said he did really well on his performance times. When Yuki did the RB test he said he gave good feedback to the engineers, maybe the test didn’t go so well.
Erkr
26th December 2024, 6:28
Lawson was also slower than Iwasa, so?
harsha vardhan
25th December 2024, 4:51
When a driver behaves like maniac in Toro Rosso . Red bull, look at his hungry, also red bull on Luki