Red Bull has not confirmed reports in multiple publications claiming it has decided to drop Liam Lawson after just two starts for the team.
French Formula 1 broadcaster Canal Plus and Dutch newspaper de Telegraaf are among those declaring the shock change will happen before the next round of the world championship.Both named Racing Bulls driver Yuki Tsunoda as Lawson’s replacement. Tsunoda would therefore start his first race for Red Bull in his home event at Suzuka.
However a Red Bull spokesperson would not confirm the reports when contacted by RaceFans.
Red Bull announced Lawson as Sergio Perez’s replacement after the end of last season. But his position at the team was thrown into doubt after his poor performances over the first two rounds.
The 23-year-old admitted he found Red Bull’s car difficult to handle. He started the last race from the pit lane after choosing to make changes to its suspension set-up in the hope of finding a better balance.
“We made the decision to take him off the grid, out of parc ferme, to try some radical changes on the set-up because you’re so limited in testing with these cars,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner told Sky after the race. “It made sense to say, okay, look, we’re starting at the back, let’s try and learn something out of the day.
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Asked whether Lawson would have further time to work on his difficulties with the car, Horner said: “Formula 1 is a pressure business, isn’t it? There’s always time pressure and he knows that. Hopefully, he’ll respond accordingly and we’ll see where we go.”
Lawson joined Red Bull from their second team, Racing Bulls, where he was Tsunoda’s team mate over the last six races of 2024. Red Bull has previously swapped drivers between its two teams, notably when it promoted Max Verstappen in place of Daniil Kvyat in 2016, and is expected to return Lawson to Racing Bulls if the change goes ahead.
Update: Red Bull drop Lawson after two rounds, Tsunoda to drive at Suzuka
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Martin (@f1hornet)
25th March 2025, 21:16
Despite his performances being way below expectations, it’s far too soon. Tsunoda knows he has no time to adjust either, and is also immediately under pressure or he’ll be out in two races time as well!
Tomcat173 (@tomcat173)
25th March 2025, 21:36
I agree with you. The car seems like a handful to drive. You’ve got a driver trying to get to grips with the handling characteristics, while also trying to learn tracks that he’s never driven on. He’s also a rookie, so you’re getting all of the downsides associated with lack of experience. And then Red Bull lament that he’s 8 tenths off Max.
Red Bull replacing Lawson this early would be a new low for the team, even if his performances are relatively poor. I can’t help but think that Lawson has been parachuted in, and hasn’t been put in a position to be quick. Swapping Lawson for Yuki – or any other driver for that matter – is just glossing over the real problem. The car is too edgy and unpredictable to drive if you’re not Max Verstappen.
Mooa42
25th March 2025, 22:10
I also think Yuki has a good chance to do well and score points in the Racing Bull in Japan, if they put him in the 2nd RedBull he is likely to be beaten by both Racing Bulls. I’m sure the Japanese locals would much rather see Yuki beat a RedBull than be in a RedBull that gets beaten.
Given Lawson knows the track well it gives him a good chance to gain some confidence because he can concentrate on the oddities of the car instead of trying to work out if its a car or track characteristic.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
25th March 2025, 23:26
A proper driver will immediately perform in the red bull, better than in toro rosso ofc, verstappen did.
PeteB (@peteb)
25th March 2025, 23:41
@esploratore1 – Not in this Red Bull. Yuki won’t make it out of Q1 and if Lawson moves back to the sister team, he’ll suddenly look right on the pace.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
26th March 2025, 18:35
I have no doubt lawson will perform again if he goes to toro rosso, however it’s a bit much to assume tsunoda won’t make it out of q1, surely there’s other drivers with a style similar to verstappen, who can perform decently in that red bull, for example ricciardo was one of those from what engineers said, unfortunately he never got back in there in a race weekend.
XM (@xmf1)
26th March 2025, 0:45
I personally feel it’s the exact time to make this switch. Can’t argue that Liam knows Suzuka, Yuki knows that track very well too.
With no swap and best case scenario, Yuki scores points in VCARB and Liam gets higher up in Red Bull, people would say Yuki would’ve done better in RB. Worst case with no swap, people would still bash Liam. It’s a lose lose
Best case with a swap, Yuki gets points in RB and Liam does well in VCARB for Suzuka, it’ll be touted as the right call and everyone is happy. Worst case, Yuki can’t handle the RB and Liam doesn’t do well for VCARB, they’ll say at least Yuki was given the chance and Liam confidence from first two races and needs time to get back. It’s much less bad.
I wish it was after Suzuka but I think this is the perfect timing, let Yuki prove his worth in front of his countrymen.
El Pollo Loco
26th March 2025, 12:41
“Learning tracks” is purely a compassionate TV commentator narrative. Successful rookies have never needed time to “learn tracks.” That said, I don’t blame Liam particularly even though I think his talent level is average. The car seems like a nightmare to drive.
anon
25th March 2025, 21:59
@f1hornet the Dutch press has been speculating that Red Bull seem to have been swayed by the prospect of extra money from Honda if they replace Lawson with Tsunoda.
Although Honda mostly just provide sponsorship now, there are claims they’d offered to pay an additional $10 million a year to Red Bull if they’d picked him over Lawson to replace Perez during negotiations in late 2024. Whilst that offer was originally rejected, there are some Dutch journalists claiming Red Bull recently went back to Honda and asked them what they’d be prepared to pay for them to switch Lawson and Tsunoda around.
Although the exact amount is unknown, the claim is that Honda is offering several million more in sponsorship (maybe as much as the $10 million extra that they’d offered during those earlier negotiations with Red Bull) if Red Bull were to switch the drivers. That combination of increased sponsorship from Honda and the publicity they’d get for promoting a Japanese driver to the main team at his home race is, according to those sources, why the decision has been made now.
MarkWebber (@markwebber)
25th March 2025, 22:12
That’s what I thought, this must be Honda making an offer that Red Bull can’t refuse. Now they saw that having Lawson or Tsunoda in that seat wasn’t going to change anything in terms of performance, they decided to grab the money, again.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
25th March 2025, 23:37
It’s too early to say, tsunoda could turn out like perez 2021, and would be a massive upgrade in that case.
Jere (@jerejj)
26th March 2025, 6:14
@esploratore1 Possible, but the likelihood of him struggling just as much in the RB21 is very high, hence why I’ve been questioning this alleged hasty swap from the get-go.
Simply based on reality, he would’ve struggled just as much in Melbourne & Shanghai had he been promoted in the first place & would struggle just as much if a swap occurred at any point during the season.
Jere (@jerejj)
26th March 2025, 6:12
anon Although all the financial sponsorship they’ve been providing for Yuki’s presence in the first place will end once the PU supply ends.
However, since it’s valid until the season’s end, I can understand Red Bull ultimately being interested despite rejecting earlier.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
25th March 2025, 23:01
There’s no pressure imo for tsunoda, it’s not like he has 2 races to go on the podium, he has 2 races where he should do the bare minimum expected from the car, which is going into the points, that will allow him time to improve.
Laz
25th March 2025, 23:30
You can only have four drivers in one team across the season. One of those has to be a rookie who does two practice sessions. If they dump Tsunoda, then their options would either be to put Lawson back in, or put Lindbald in once he turns 18 in August. This is the bed Red Bull have made for themselves.
Zach Bigalke (@bigalke)
26th March 2025, 17:22
I thought the rule was that no more than four drivers can compete in a grand prix in a season for each F1 team. Does FP1 count?
I always thought rookies were exempt from that max-four limit, since it is an F1 mandate that they run rookies 2x in each car per season.
SteveP
26th March 2025, 21:54
You’re right, Laz is conflating the maximum drivers competing in the GPs with the rule requiring teams to substitute a rookie in each car in two FP1 sessions per season.
Jojo
26th March 2025, 1:22
I also think it’s too early to drop Lawson too, the potential is probably there but they haven’t given him time.
I’m actually quite optimistic for Tsunoda though, and think he has a chance to exceed people’s expectations, even though the Red Bull is tricky. We’ll see in a couple of weeks!
Marc (@marcw)
26th March 2025, 7:22
Tsunoda struggled to pass Jack Doohan in China in the Racing Bull. Why would he do any better than Lawson with a car change?
Laz
26th March 2025, 8:08
That was Hadjar. Tsunoda passed Doohan just fine.
El Pollo Loco
26th March 2025, 12:47
That wasn’t Yuki. And Lawson was getting held by cars in P19 and P18. So, I’m not sure this is a great argument.
The irony is that if Piastri doesn’t spin in Zandvoort, Liam never gets to F1 and Red Bull never has the chance to make yet another disastrous driver choice that just everyone in the world saw coming.
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
26th March 2025, 21:11
If Tsunoda isn’t an immediate success, what will RB do then?
They can’t continue this hire/fire circus. It’s embarrassing and shows no empathy whatsoever to young drivers.
El Pollo Loco
27th March 2025, 5:05
They’ll have to accept the need to revise the chassis to be more neutral or accept that one of their cars will be recording terrible results for the rest of the season. Newey had warned them during winter 2023 that they had chosen a design path for the RB20 that would lead to these problems and they ignored him. They began paying the price for that just a quarter of the way through last season.
SteveP
26th March 2025, 21:58
As Laz said, that was Hadjar not Tsunoda.
Plus, Doohan was using illegal moves to block Hadjar and picked up two penalty points, along with the in-race 10 second penalty, for making those illegal moves.
Iana
26th March 2025, 1:34
you’re right, i am worried for yuki. He might be happy about the news but i bet he is under pressure since he will be racing in bulls with max and in his home.
El Pollo Loco
26th March 2025, 3:48
Yet another race fans questionnaire prediction of mine that has come true. Some others include:
-Hadjar first driver to retire
-Bortoleto out qualifying Hulkenberg (well, on track for that anyway)
-Kimi outscoring Lawson (duh, shocked so many people chose Lawson)
-Russell as a dark horse/main challenger to the McLaren drivers (so far so good)
-Williams > Alpine (so far so good)
An Sionnach
26th March 2025, 8:19
Yes, I read all of the predictions and thought many were too difficult to predict. The Hadjar one stuck in my mind as I expected a certain amount of bad luck and other drivers to be involved (it could even be Max). The way he went out all on his own out makes it seem a fair guess. I thought what Anthony Hamilton did was nice, but it was also embarrassing.
El Pollo Loco
26th March 2025, 12:48
Hadjar’s been great despite that little hiccup. I’ve been very pleasantly surprised by him.
S Arkazam
26th March 2025, 13:05
I thought it was a DNS, but according to the official FIA classification it is listed as a DNF.
El Pollo Loco
26th March 2025, 19:00
Let’s be honest. It’s the same exact thing in this case. It wasn’t a technical issue that prevented him from starting. He crashed his car. Only the fact that it happened prior to the green flag changed its technical designation.
SteveP
27th March 2025, 19:34
Where do you keep the DeLorean?
Do you have a spare flux capacitor, just in case?
When is the presidential assassination?
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
26th March 2025, 5:42
Indeed. Why didn’t they give Yuki the seat so he could adjust a little.better too?
This is mind-blowing from Red Bull. I know they made lknee jerk moves before with Albon Gasly and Kvyat. But these past 12 months tale the cake. Spending money and effort to sign them remove Perez, overlook the obvious choice for Lawson and now demoting? Removing? Lawson for an “unprepared” Yuki.
I wonder how Marko and Horner are viewed at the team.
El Pollo Loco
26th March 2025, 12:51
Because they are very bitter toward Honda and were being petty. That’s why. It took utter disaster to change their mind and now they throw Yuki into frying pan with even less time to adapt to the chassis. That said, I expect Yuki to do better than Liam Laston. I mean Lawson.
Matt Clare
26th March 2025, 17:04
It’s probably the right decision, but the value of the right decision is significantly diminished after proceeding with the wrong one first.
If RB Car 2 was going to finish poorly in Japan regardless, may aswell have the sponsors and local fans love it? 🤷♂
Most importantly for RB and it’s fants, there should be accountability about decisions that were made months ago.
El Pollo Loco
26th March 2025, 19:03
I’m assuming you talking about the #2 RBR car since the RB has been incredibly competitive. This is why RB should still be named Toro Rosso.
Edvaldo
25th March 2025, 21:18
Good for Tsunoda. If it works, good; if it doesn’t, then, whatever.
Staying with the smaller team would lead to a dead end by the end of the season anyway.
Applebook
25th March 2025, 21:39
What does he have to lose? I doubt that he will be that much better than Lawson, but who knows. Driving styles are everything. Maybe the RB will suit Yuki’s style.
It’s funny that Albon has been the best performer alongside Max since he was unceremoniously sacked. Maybe RB should not have given up on him. His driving style is much closer to Max than someone like Perez.
MacLeod (@macleod)
26th March 2025, 13:34
Actually Daniel was the best as he also like a pointy front!
El Pollo Loco
26th March 2025, 3:50
Probably, but I also think he was setting himself up to be a top candidate for the Cadillac seat. Honda had dropped him from their program to help begin distancing himself from an association with their team. But this is worth the risk. If he’s even just not an embarrassment, he’s getting another year in the RBR.
Imre (@f1mre)
26th March 2025, 9:01
Would he have wanted that Cadillac seat as early as next year?
I think the best shots for Cadillac are a mid-tier driver without a seat this or next year (Bottas, Perez) and a marketing stunt from IndyCar or IMSA. I don’t see the point of them choosing an inexperienced driver from F2. Or they could simply go with the Bottas-Perez lineup. Perez would bring money, Bottas would bring one-lap pace.
El Pollo Loco
26th March 2025, 12:56
Well, he’s out of a contract for next year. So, I’m assuming he’d want that seat for 2026. It’s a moot point now. He’ll either not embarrass himself, which will be enough to get him a seat for 2026 with RBR or he will and that will likely drastically reduce the chances of him landing a seat at Cadillac, unless they make a deal to switch to Honda PUs, which I highly doubt. Will it be Cadillac Ferrari or Cadillac Honda? lol, what a comedy.
James (@knewman)
25th March 2025, 21:18
It’ll be nice for Tsunoda to get the opportunity at his home race. But damn Redbull, that’s cold as ice. The way this team handles drivers is shocking. I’d be surprised if they ever manage to find anyone to stay in that seat, given how hard this team is tilted to one side of the garage.
Edvaldo
25th March 2025, 21:52
This will happen the day Max leaves. Because that is HIS car and he sets the benchmark way too high.
You put two guys there qualifying 10th and 12th, they’ll last the whole year, as long as they’re leveled, the team will knuckle down and try to give them a better car for their liking, just like it was between Vettel’s end and Max’s arrival.
S Arkazam
25th March 2025, 23:07
People forget that F1 is first and foremost a team sport (notwithstanding the focus on WDC).
Changing players doesn’t concern me too much, as it doesn’t concern me when a football team benches an underperforming player.
XM (@xmf1)
26th March 2025, 0:48
Par for the sport tbh. There’s no merit in keeping underperforming drivers, unless they bring in obscene amounts of money.
Matt Clare
26th March 2025, 17:06
I geuss – if RB Car 2 was going to finish poorly in Japan regardless, may aswell have the sponsors and local fans love it? Maximizing the upside of a certain bad weekend.
Sham (@sham)
25th March 2025, 21:19
If this is true, it’s a new low for Red Bull Racing.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
25th March 2025, 21:45
Actually this is all happening because Verstappen can’t win races anymore.
If Red Bull were smart they would develop their car for the everyman like Ducati does in GP’s, vs how Honda did it w. Marc Marquez.
There is a reason nobody else can drive that car, and it’s because Verstappen doesn’t want or can handle legitimate competition without losing it. It is what it is. This is what Red Bull have been turning their car in to the last couple of years.
And, if it was a brake biasing valve, or what ever changed to stifle the RBR last year, it’s clear something was horribly a miss for the past number of years, probably a lot of cheating. Red Bull are a talented group, but they supported a driver who will undo them.
Rhys Lloyd (@justrhysism)
25th March 2025, 22:44
I don’t think Max is worried about the challenge of other drivers.
I think the Red Bull engineers for too long have been following the data and ignoring drivability because Max could still somehow pull it together.
I think it’s also partly this generation of cars which seem to be super difficult to drive—but alas it is Formula 1: it’s not supposed to be easy. Although I do wonder that if the cars were a little easier to drive we would see more risks taken on track because the drivers would have more confidence that they could pull it off.
XM (@xmf1)
26th March 2025, 0:51
Exactly that. I’m no Max fan, but he seems to be able to drive around problems and still wring the neck out of that car and ever since Adrian left, they’ve been conveniently ignoring the underlying problems the car has. Checo’s been talking about it, and so has Max, but it sounds easier for the engineers to stand on one strong leg than exercise their strength to stand on both legs.
SteveP
27th March 2025, 19:52
From Adrian’s comments in lengthy interviews, he predicted that the development direction the other members of the tech team wanted was a “dead end” and would give problems with less predictable on track behaviour.
When his predictions proved true last year, they claimed to be surprised. AN wasn’t.
Sometimes life puts you in a position to make a prediction, hear the rejection of your advice, and then sit back and watch from elsewhere along with others and a large bucket of popcorn (or nuts)
With the money AN is now getting, that is a very large bucket of snacks.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
26th March 2025, 2:05
“I don’t think Max is worried about the challenge of other drivers.”
Thats why he runs them off the road.
It’s a generation of cars that was meant to end Mercedes dominance and give Red Bull a chance to win. They (RBR) stopped winning because it was getting to0 boring, and predictable. And it has nothing to do with the curbs in Miami.
It’s clear Mercedes power is still the best on the grid. And it’s clear the factory Mercedes team decided to go full Simple Jack and innovate in to no where right after the FIA handed the crown from Hamilton to Verstappen. Right when the FIA started pushing a formula that suited Red Bull and Max’s ridiculous winning streak.
Whats wrong with the Red Bull after, vs before ? It’s clearly very much slower down the straight and off the corner. It’s super efficient DRS doesn’t exist anymore, and that’s not just with the top teams, and clearly a drop their car, and not the other cars getting faster.
When Max was all winning, the car is great. When Max isn’t all winning, the car is horrible. But really because it’s developed around Max, and hes still able to challenge for poles, its not a bad car, its just not engineered well.
Doggy
26th March 2025, 21:29
Everyone keeps conveying this lie about the car being built specifically for Max when Adrain Newey said it himself that the car need only be designed to be as fast as possible and Max will extract the speed from it. Please go back and watch interviews with Adrian because he made the comment that he didn’t have to built a car suited to Max….. No he said Max could drive anything
El Pollo Loco
26th March 2025, 3:41
It’s not a new anything. They’re just swapping him. Not dropping him. An important point the headline not so accidentally fails to point out. Did they even mention it in the article either? I skimmed quickly and didn’t see it mentioned, but I could have missed it.
Chris Horton
25th March 2025, 21:20
Hilarious.
They could give Webber a shot next.
PacificPR (@streydt)
25th March 2025, 21:30
Red Bull, Clips your Wings.
Picasso 1.9D FTW (@picasso-19d-ftw)
25th March 2025, 21:36
Nice 😁
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
25th March 2025, 21:47
their wings were clipped before the Miami GP last year.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
26th March 2025, 0:00
His comment was clearly a reference to the slogan of the red bull’s drink: red bull gives you wings, while in this case they cut lawson’s wings.
However no sympathy from me, his performance was abysmal, and imo he should’ve never been in red bull: tsunoda should have, at the start of 2025.
Seppo (@helava)
26th March 2025, 0:13
Red Bull: Gives you an impossible car, publicly humiliates you, destroys your career, somehow rewards Helmut Marko
It’s a long slogan, but I guess what they’re going with.
Todfod (@todfod)
26th March 2025, 4:25
Its shocking how Helmut Marko has still help on to his job since 2019. He’s made one bad decision after another. He’s put talented but unprepared drivers in that seat (Gasly and Albon), that didn’t yield results. Then he got in Sergio, but kept him contracted for too long.. eventually breaking that contract and paying him off. Instead of replacing him with a safer pair of hands (Sainz, Hulkenberg or even Yuki), he puts in Liam, only to drop him after two races, and switch to Yuki.
He’s lucky he managed to poach Vettel off BMW Sauber in 2007, and sign Max when Toto dropped the ball in 2015. If it wasn’t for these two signings he has been convincingly rubbish at his job.
anon
26th March 2025, 10:47
@todfod from what Horner and Jos have hinted at in the past, it sounds like Jos’s personal contacts with Horner played more of a role there. Max’s mother happens to be a close friend of Horner, as their careers in the junior motorsport ranks overlapped quite a bit, and it sounds like Jos took advantage of that direct access to Horner to gain influence with him and get Max into Red Bull.
As for Marko, you could argue that it’s really been his personal associations with the Mateschitz family that has kept him in his role for that length of time.
MacLeod (@macleod)
26th March 2025, 13:37
This is nonesense as it looks Max would sign for Mercedes .. at that time.
anon
26th March 2025, 16:17
@macleod your claim that “it looked like Max would sign for Mercedes at that time” doesn’t match with what anybody who did actually take part in the negotiations have since said.
According to Jos and Max, as well as Raymond Vermuelen (who was Max’s manager at the time), they started negotiations with Red Bull first and had already received an offer from them before Toto and Lauda then requested formal talks with them. Toto has also gone on record as saying that he found out later that they had already been in negotiations with Red Bull first, and that it wasn’t possible for him to make a comparable offer to what Red Bull had already made to them either.
MacLeod (@macleod)
27th March 2025, 8:00
@anon That is very strange because before F3 there was already contact with Mercedes and when Max did well in F3 those talks were serious BUT they were in contact with ALL F1 teams. Red Bull offered an seat because of the Mercedes offer they were serious consider! And this were the interviews with Max and Jos in the beginning….right after signing in 2014.
Or there is a translating error or the story changed in all those years.
El Pollo Loco
26th March 2025, 3:42
More likely this helps Lawson. He’ll be much comfortable at RB. Qualifying in last place every weekend wasn’t going to help him get his wings.
Picasso 1.9D FTW (@picasso-19d-ftw)
25th March 2025, 21:36
So silly. I’d have been happy enough to see Tsunoda in the seat this year, but not for them to pull the rug on a driver almost immediately. Red Bull’s driver management is truly pathological.
Lawson has had a torrid couple of weekends, there is no doubt, but he has previously shown that he can handle an F1 car. Of course he has been embarrassingly far behind Verstappen, but Perez was typically at least half a second off last year too, and it’s not unreasonable to expect a rookie(ish) to start off in a team a similar chunk behind an established driver.
I know this analysis is super-generous. The other rookies are not generally half a second off their teammate, let alone a second, so even allowing for the Max effect Lawson looks dreadful. But the point is that it’s far too soon to tell whether a driver who impressed in other series and in another F1 car is actually a complete flop. And it’s another reason why good young drivers will start to steer clear of a team that’s already on the decline.
Applebook
25th March 2025, 21:41
I think that being comfortably outperformed by a fellow rookie in the sister team is what has really accelerated this demotion. It would be like Bearman in the Haas outpacing Hamilton.
Richard
26th March 2025, 4:36
Drive have been; Doohan was in the Red Bull program and chose to leave…
Paul (@frankjaeger)
25th March 2025, 21:36
How humiliating for Liam. Surely he should get a 1/4 season at least
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
25th March 2025, 21:49
Bet you there are a lot of executives who are in denial over there. They are doing the opposite of what they need to be doing, which is building a car anyone can drive. Not a car that someone knows how to drive better than anyone else. This is Red Bull getting flushed down the toilet if their ‘star’ goes to Mercedes.
Patrick (@paeschli)
26th March 2025, 6:11
My understanding was Red Bull were ready to give Lawson a few more races but Honda put some cash on the table to do the switch right away so that they get their big PR stunt for their home race.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
25th March 2025, 21:51
I suppose the argument is that Perez was let go for not being able to at least finish a race with Verstappen in view and Lawson evidently can’t outqualify the sister team’s cars. Like they replaced the other guy with a guy that appeared to be better – they took a gamble, a calculated one given he has 11 GP’s to his name, and it didn’t pay out. They can either spend the next year babysitting him under ever increasing pressure or give him space to learn in peace and let Tsunoda give it a go, if he succeeds great and if he fails well nothing changed. Their mistake was promoting him at all, he wasn’t ready and everyone told Red Bull this, that if they did and he failed they’d burn him up like they burnt up Gasly & Albon. Whoever made the call for Lawson over Tsunoda – apparently Horner, well I guess he was distracted a bit last year, right?
anon
25th March 2025, 22:09
@rocketpanda it wasn’t just Horner who preferred Lawson, as Marko also expressed a preference for Lawson over Tsunoda (his argument was that Tsunoda is too inconsistent and that Lawson has the potential to develop into a better driver than Tsunoda). There were supposedly several things that Marko and Horner disagreed about last year, but one thing they did agree on was that they preferred Lawson over Tsunoda.
hunocsi (@hunocsi)
25th March 2025, 22:00
Well, let’s hope Tsunoda can make a good case for himself quickly with no mileage and not get canned immediately with a big “told you so”. Very harsh on Lawson (although I don’t think he should have got the promotion in the first place), but if Tsunoda cannot perform either, I suspect they will swap them back once again.
bull mello (@bullmello)
25th March 2025, 22:05
Lawson has had experience on the Suzuka track. He had no experience on the Australia and China tracks.
Lawson has the Red Bull car for two races, but Tsunoda has no experience to race in the 2025 Red Bull car yet.
Tsunoda should have been promoted to Red Bull for this season.
But, Lawson needs to sink or swim for a few more races to see what happens.
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
26th March 2025, 2:08
That shouldn’t be an excuse because any half decent driver should be able to learn a track within a dozen laps.
And it also ignores other rookies who have never seen one or both of those tracks before who turned up and did very well.
Lawson has more F1 experience than other rookies who had never raced at Shanghai before and yet they managed to be faster than him in both qualifying sessions and be close to there respective team mates.
bull mello (@bullmello)
26th March 2025, 13:04
“That shouldn’t be an excuse because any half decent driver should be able to learn a track within a dozen laps.”
This is true. But, if Lawson cannot get up to speed at Suzuka, he should be gone from Red Bull without any excuse.
El Pollo Loco
26th March 2025, 13:05
More like two laps according to almost every F1 driver. Even in club racing where I drive, at new tracks the best drivers are near the ultimate pace within 3-4 laps, guys who are usually chasing the best guys (that’s me) usually take 6-7 laps and the least competitive drivers get to just about as fast as they’ll ever go within 15 laps. The only exception are tracks that are extremely flat and wide. Those can take longer. Not for pros though.
XV
25th March 2025, 22:31
It may seem tough on Lawson, but if he does go back to Racing Bulls, then at least he gets a shot at redeeming himself. Being dropped from the sport outright would be humiliating.
El Pollo Loco
26th March 2025, 13:07
Yeah. They wouldn’t dare (drop him outright). They’d be crucified. And it really would be too much mentally to do a young guy like that.
Only Facts!
25th March 2025, 22:34
If those rumors are true, here’s what the fortune teller would say: Tsunoda will crash on Friday, trying to find the limit.
He will improve on Saturday, qualifying two positions behind Verstappen. He will start on a different strategy, to be able to pit later and put pressure on McLaren.
And Netflix will have a two part episode on the last of the samurai.
Too good to be true? Yes, I know.
XM (@xmf1)
26th March 2025, 0:55
This gave me a good chuckle. Where are the punters? I’d put some side money that this happens lmao
nunof
25th March 2025, 22:40
And then what will RBR do if Tsunoda can’t control the car either? Very risky move and surely more heads will roll if Tsunoda also fails to impress
mrfill (@mrfill)
25th March 2025, 23:14
They will then put Helmut Marko in the car to show them how it should be done…..
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
26th March 2025, 2:44
“Unbelieavable, I’m over 80 and I still have to show them how to drive!”
El Pollo Loco
26th March 2025, 13:09
The problem is that according to Max’s contract, Helmut can’t be fired. It’s why he’s allowed to continually fail at the one responsibility he has at Red Bull.
MacLeod (@macleod)
27th March 2025, 8:03
There can fire him only Max is then free to leave also.
PeteB (@peteb)
25th March 2025, 23:27
It’ll be interesting to see if Lawson goes back to the sister team. I have a feeling he won’t because Red Bull won’t want to expose the fact that the problem is the car, not the driver. It’s already going to be embarrassing when Yuki goes from looking like a decent F1 driver to looking like someone who has won a competition to have a go in an F1 car but it’ll be even worse if Lawson immediately puts in a strong performance…
XM (@xmf1)
26th March 2025, 0:59
I feel Red Bull are inherently fine with saying it’s the car. Heck they’ve been saying it since last year even. Having Yuki’s input on top of Liam’s from the past two races would put them in a better position to improve it as well.
I don’t think any team is embarrassed to say that they have a bad car and needs to work on it, I’ve never seen that happen.
PeteB (@peteb)
26th March 2025, 1:18
It’s not so much being embarrassed that they have a bad car (and I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily “bad” – it’s just extremely pointy in the front end to suit Max) but more that if you’re dropping a driver after only 2 races, you’re clearly putting most of the blame on the driver rather than the car.
Surely if they’re aware that they have a bad car and they’re willing to admit that, they’d defend Lawson and at least for the next few races to see if he can get up to speed? If they were doing this at any point in the first half of the season, I’d argue it was a bit unfair but he’s only done 2 races (and only 13 races in total in his whole F1 career)…
XM (@xmf1)
26th March 2025, 2:30
Not trying to be an red bull apologist here, I feel that they already knew it was a difficult car from data, saw that checo can’t go forward anymore, checked several years of Yuki’s data and probably saw a trend that it would also be just as bad, and then gambled that green Liam would have a higher probability to adapt to it as he only has to learn and doesn’t need to undo years of habit to get used to the car. That’s just my guess tbh. And admittedly it was a really bad gamble.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
26th March 2025, 2:48
I don’t see who else they could put there if not lindblad, and I’m not up to date with junior drivers, so don’t know if he is even eligible to join the f1 grid yet.
Zach Bigalke (@bigalke)
26th March 2025, 17:35
Lindblad earned his superlicense by securing the Formula Regional Oceania Championship in February.
El Pollo Loco
26th March 2025, 13:11
How much would you like to bet Lawson does get put in the RB? I’ll bet as much as you want that he does and even give you preferable payout odds. It’s a cute theory though.
Craig
25th March 2025, 23:30
I take it after 4 years with Perez they feel they’ve not ruined enough junior drivers’ prospects so feel the need to get as many drivers into that poisoned chalice as possible (this is said mostly in jest, but Red Bull really are being ridiculous here).
Tomcat173 (@tomcat173)
26th March 2025, 4:09
Most jokes are grounded in some truth
El Pollo Loco
26th March 2025, 13:17
Gasly and Albon turned out fine. Yuki’s career hasn’t been ruined. Lawson was never getting a drive with any other team. So, no matter what, he’s in the black. de Vries was a Mercedes junior who never got a chance with them. Ricciardo wasn’t a junior and got his start with them. Where are all these ruined juniors and who else is giving so many juniors a shot?
Per usual, the facts don’t agree with you.
Craig
26th March 2025, 15:15
I’d encourage you to review more then a few hand picked “facts” but seeing as you didn’t understand what I said in the first place I suspect there’s no point in doing so (not that you would anyway).
El Pollo Loco
26th March 2025, 19:13
“Hand picked facts?” I listed every driver covered in the time period you talked about and beyond, but please illuminate me. I get it, your point was that it didn’t work for driver Albon and Gasly at RBR, but their careers weren’t ruined. RBR even gave Gasly years at RB to rebuild. And, generally, what you said is all part of a false narrative that Red Bull ruins the careers of junior prospects. Many of which had no prospects without Red Bull.
So, tell me about all these facts I missed. It’s you though, I suspect you won’t because there are none to support your argument.
Biggsy
25th March 2025, 23:45
To think that this time last year, when they were weighting their options, they had Alonso and Sainz basically begging to drive for them.
Fast-forward 1 year, and it’s starting to look like this time is on a one-way ride to the bottom, from which, unlike McLaren and Williams, they will never going to recover.
If Max goes to a different team, I’m giving Red Bull 2 years tops, before they sell the team.
Patrick (@paeschli)
26th March 2025, 6:15
They are already paying Perez’ salary, I doubt they wanted to throw money at an expensive Alonso who is struggling against Steoll this year or an overrated Sainz who is worse than Verstappen and Albon.
El Pollo Loco
26th March 2025, 13:27
Typical F1 social media take. Making a judgement based on two races when there a decade of data that contradicts your take.
Carlos looked faster throughout testing and all of practice and quali in Melbourne until Q3 and then it was nearly a tie. Admittedly he looked lost in China, but would you really put $ down on this trend continuing? We have enough history to know Sainz would be exponentially superior to either Lawson or Yuki.
And even if we’re just talking about this season,?FA’s out qualified Stroll in both qualis and was ahead in both races (brakes not his fault and Melbourne was 50/50 with gravel on the curb). The sprint was the only example of Stroll actually looking fast. Lance usually starts seasons strong and fades. Midfield cars also make it easier for drivers like Lance to look competitive. 2024 ended six months ago with FA having ended the season with 80.3% of the team’s points. I know he’s getting old, but six months isn’t slowing him down that much. loll
S Arkazam
26th March 2025, 15:31
‘exponentially superior’ or simply fasterest? ;)
El Pollo Loco
26th March 2025, 19:15
Fasterest and exponentially superior, mein Arkazam! ; )
David BR (@david-br)
25th March 2025, 23:52
If the Red Bull is so bad, nobody else can drive it, maybe the best option would actually be to put Verstappen in a Racing Bull?! Who knows, he may even win some races this season.
PeteB (@peteb)
26th March 2025, 1:26
That’s missing the point though. Max would be slower in the sister team whereas Lawson will (if he gets the chance) be much quicker. The Red Bull isn’t “bad”, it’s just very extreme in the way it behaves.
Albon was talking about the Red Bull and he likened it to turning the sensitivity on your mouse up to 100%. You breathe on it and the cursor shoots off the side of the screen. Obviously if you can control your mouse like that, you’re going to be able to move the cursor to where you want on the screen more quickly but most of us would find it impossible. That’s what the front end of the Red Bull is like. Max likes it like that and therefore benefits from it but most people will find it horrible to drive and will have no confidence in it.
A young kid with only 13 F1 races under his belt is certainly going to need more than 2 race weekends to get used to a car like that.
entah
26th March 2025, 3:20
https://youtu.be/gsoniSZ-pfg?si=otzBXF3gXNuhitYn
Spot on Albon
MichaelN
26th March 2025, 8:35
Lawson at 23 is not a kid, and he has about a full 1990s season worth of GP starts. Nobody would blame him for being on the back foot a bit, but he’s putting that car straight up last. He’s doing a really bad job, and he’s being nasty to his Red Bull colleague in the process. It’s a bad look all around.
anon
26th March 2025, 11:45
MichaelN, asides from the fact that most seasons in the 1990s did actually have more races than that, the 1990s also didn’t impose restrictions on testing mileage for drivers (and, indeed, drivers from the 1990s were expected to cover significant mileage in private testing). The testing restrictions that have kicked in over the past decade, and especially in the past few years, have really cut down testing mileages compared to the past.
In terms of total mileage, Lawson therefore hasn’t clocked up as much as you seem to think he has. Lawson’s total mileage in Formula 1 cars before the first race of this season amounted to approximately 4,300km, and he covered 806km in the pre-season tests this year.
To put it into perspective, if you look at drivers who made their competitive debut in the early to mid 2010s, Lawson’s total career mileage to date is only now just starting to match, or is still less than, Sainz, Verstappen, Magnussen, Ocon, Perez or Bottas, to pick just a few examples, had covered in testing before they competed in their first races. You’re therefore expecting him to perform at a level that, until quite recently (i.e. only a decade ago), drivers would have been considered just about possibly ready to make their competitive debut.
Asanator
26th March 2025, 19:50
Qualifying a second off pole would would probably have gotten you into the top 10 in the 90’s.
El Pollo Loco
26th March 2025, 13:28
Sponsor contracts would never allow it.
Force Maikel (@force-maikel)
25th March 2025, 23:58
I see this as an admission they made a mistake. Lawson was not ready to be thrown in against Verstappen, let alone with a car that’s obviously lost the plot over the past twelve months since losing their star designer. There is no guarantee he will fare better, but Tsunoda deserved the chance and was ready after his best year yet in F1. A shame for Lawson but that’s F1 for you.
Seppo (@helava)
26th March 2025, 0:21
Liam Lawson is a legitimately good driver. He’s at least Alex Albon/Pierre Gasly quality, but with WAY less experience than either in F1. To pull the rug out from under him after a decent showing in RB after only two races in a car that everyone seems to agree is a beast to drive is the kind of thing that in most businesses, would have people seriously reconsidering whether they’d ever want to drive for that team, even given the upside of the opportunity.
If I were a young driver’s manager, I’d be including fairly aggro clauses in their contracts about minimum duration & very high cost buyout options, *specifically* because Red Bull’s management keeps publicly humiliating their drivers and failing to offer even basic support for them as they’re struggling.
If you look at Gasly & Albon’s time at Red Bull, while on one hand, Horner would often say something about the team supporting them, and giving them time, it was never the bold declaration of support that would get the trolls to shut up. Doing so would have been easy, but they never did it. Marko would always be sniping off to the side, since Horner was providing some minimum level of plausible deniability.
Fundamentally, though, the problem is that the way they carry themselves professionally, like Alpine’s upper management @ Renault and Ferrari’s management in the pre-Binotto days, is that their MO is “it’s never the team’s fault, it’s the (driver, team principal, engineer, whatever), and we’re going to publicly humiliate them, blame them for all our problems, and fire them in a way that will destroy their career.” And then repeat the exact same issue over and over, finding whoever the next scapegoat should be.
But if you look at how a Wolff, Brown, Vasseur, Binotto, Komatsu, run their team – failures are team failures. Personnel changes aren’t publicly announced as, “Hey, we found the cancer and we’ve cut it out. It was THIS GUY, screw them!” Opportunities to fix performance are given time, legit avenues of exploration are explored, and when it doesn’t work out, folks are sent on their way with a kind word.
That’s the difference between good management and toxic garbage.
El Pollo Loco
26th March 2025, 19:20
Lawson had a middling junior formula career. In his second year in F2, rookie teammate Logan Sargeant finished a single point behind him in the same car. So, what is all this talent you’re talking about? And he’s going back to RB… so he’ll have every chance to rehab his reputation.
Meanwhile, you talk about how a bunch of teams that rarely give juniors a chance doing things better. Not sure your post makes much sense. However, the “Red Bull mean/bad” narrative sounds familiar.
Alonslow
26th March 2025, 0:22
Finally let’s go Yuki
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
26th March 2025, 0:34
Why ruin one young driver’s career when you can ruin 2? Don’t do it Yuki!
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
26th March 2025, 2:50
What else should he do, stay in the midfield forever? It’s his ONE and ONLY chance at a top team.
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
26th March 2025, 7:25
I was kinda joking, of course it’s a great opportunity. The thing is though, is Red Bull genuinely a top team? Max is struggling to make the podium and he hasn’t had a competitive team-mate for quite some time now. I’d argue Red Bull is now a midfield team which Max is outperforming. Yuki going to Red Bull now is probably closer to Sergio’s McLaren move in 2013 than Vettel in 2009.
Mark (@mrcento)
26th March 2025, 1:00
As bad as it has been, 2 races then replacing is an appalling way to treat a driver, especially when 1 of those races was effectively binned off to throw an experimental setup on the car. You could even argue the conditions in Australia made that race a bit of an unfair one to judge as well. The only representative stable run he has had was the sprint, and he didn’t do that horribly in it given he started last.
They should give him the next 2 at least, 2 tracks he knows well, 1 of them he has tested this car at already, and see where he really is. If it’s even half as bad, by all means, make the switch then with more confidence he really isn’t the guy for them given the way the car drives.
Would also argue there’s no reason to destabilise Tsunoda as well, who is driving well in the VCARB. Just keep him in the loop, tell him to keep doing what he’s doing and barring a miracle turnaround, will get a shot in the RBR if he wants it this season. Having seen Lawson dropped after 2 outings, anyone walking into that will be feeling it’s hit the ground running or you’re also gone, not fair on the replacement either.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
26th March 2025, 2:51
Yes, 2 more races is reasonable, especially with tracks he knows coming up, but other than that I’d prefer to act soon rather than how they did with perez.
W-K (@w-k)
26th March 2025, 1:25
I’m surprised that nobody has mentioned, that about the time the car started to go wrong for Perez, RBR managed to upset their Wizard, Adrian Newey, who left for distant shores.
If they do swap the drivers then, the only hope we have that RBR will realise their failings is for Lawson to beat, or at least be very close to, Tsunoda in Japan.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
26th March 2025, 2:53
Well, lawson at toro rosso is expected to be fighting for the points, so for tsunoda to beat him with this relatively bad red bull means he will have to perform at least decently, so the odds are on what you’re hoping, I think.
Franky
26th March 2025, 2:25
Red Bull is focused, now even more, at least 75% on their no. 1 driver, not being a bad idea, but their no. 2 driver does not stand a chance at all. N. 2 driver is just being a test mule, moving chicane, subservient driver for the team.
For me it is crystal clear, it is strategy. I mean not to be that low in results, but to use the second driver to test alternate setups, strategies, to feed data to Max’s engineers, etc, not mentioning instructions and strategies to directly slow down competitors. This has been very straight forward since they abandoned the real intra team competition when Riccardo left and Max became number 1 with Jos bossing around the paddock. After that everything has been Max focused. A few moments here and there but definitely a slap on the face whenever someone dared to be competitive with Max. And since the decline of competitiveness with the departure of Newey it just got worse.
And all this theatre of giving him the same tools as Max is just for the naive fans and media. In the end they just crunch drivers as potato chips making they dream of winning. The only one who did get some shine was destroyed after with subservient strategies and a spare parts car, making him sign an extension with the illusion that there would be a fair opportunity just to deny him the chance to get a seat somewhere else. No wonder why Sainz didn’t even consider getting there, did he have a chat in Spanish with Perez?
Gasly, Albon, Perez, Lawson …. Tsunoda, Hadjar and anyone on this list has the skills to drive competitively an F1 car. Never at Max level but at least to be a regular top 10-to-top-3. The problem is that they are trying to make fans and media think that it is a “normal” team. It is multiple times worse than Aston Martin. As another fellow fan wrote, they make look pay drivers better.
My theory is as good as anybody else’s.
Drew Storms (@badstorms)
26th March 2025, 3:04
Pour one out for everyone that spent good money on Lawson RB gear
Patrick (@paeschli)
26th March 2025, 6:34
Surely such limited edition gear will go up in price now?!
Seppo (@helava)
26th March 2025, 7:19
Collectible price is supply + demand. Supply may be low, but demand will also be low. Lawson fans won’t want to rub it in his face, and F1 merch is too $$$ for a troll purchase.
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage- Special Unhinged Edition (@davedai)
26th March 2025, 7:52
A definite opportunity there @paeschli if he went for the cooler months range and not limited to F1.
“WOOLLY BULLY”
Lamb Lawson’s exclusive Winter Woollen Wardrobe
El Pollo Loco
26th March 2025, 19:22
I did. I’m two beers poorer. Besides, Lawson RBR/RB = close enough.
harsha vardhan
26th March 2025, 5:44
Like to a scenario where the gets no thank you from everyone
Jere (@jerejj)
26th March 2025, 6:06
Swapping at this point is unnecessarily hasty, if it indeed is about to happen, especially since the next three circuits are ones where Liam has driven before (SF/F1 for Suzuka, F2/pre-season testing for Sakhir & Jeddah).
However, as pointed out before, the likelihood of Yuki struggling just as much in the same machinery is very high.
Jere (@jerejj)
26th March 2025, 6:07
I forgot to alter the ending part because I actually haven’t mentioned it on this site before, but Yuki is indeed highly likely to struggle just as much rather than perform any better in comparison.
Jere (@jerejj)
26th March 2025, 6:45
Edit: Of course, the spokesperson wouldn’t confirm something that isn’t about to happen anyway.
Frs
26th March 2025, 9:57
Your useless parroting and discrediting Yuki is tiresome…
Simon
26th March 2025, 16:47
+1
El Pollo Loco
26th March 2025, 19:29
Simon is back and tailing Jere. Tell us the origin story of your Jere obsession.
However, Jere, as has been widely pointed out by almost every F1 driver and shown by history, a new track is no excuse for professional drivers. It didn’t seem to slow Hadjar down in China and it wasn’t the reason Liam was struggling. Professional drivers are expected to be able to learn a track and come up to speed in 3-4 laps. Palmer himself said two last weekend. In club racing, most of the field is near their maximum lap time within 2-6 laps.
Finally, if things happen like you predict, Lawson’s reputation will be restored. He’ll be in the easy to drive RB while Yuki is struggling in the RBR. So, I’m not sure I see your point.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
26th March 2025, 6:43
One thing which is being overlooked is Liam is given the car to race by Red Bull. They define the settings and adjustments on the car and the strategy. If there’s a problem with the car, which we’re being told there is, then why is Liam the only one being held responsible for the poor performance? Shouldn’t others be blamed as well? How does Red Bull expect to improve things if those responsible for the car’s setup and strategy are the same for Yuki as for Liam? If those responsible for the car know how to set the car up correctly for Yuki then why didn’t they do it for Liam? If Liam is going to be demoted to Racing Bulls, then surely the Red Bull Team Principal and a few others should also be demoted as well, while the Racing Bulls Team Principal and the equivalent few others should be promoted along with Yuki.
MichaelN
26th March 2025, 8:41
Red Bull has had a problem with their second car for years. It was only in the moments they were absurdly dominant that it did fairly well, allowing Perez to score podiums and even a couple of (inherited) wins.
When you have half a dozen drivers who all fail to perform, the problem is with the team. They run the cars, they pick the drivers.
oweng (@oweng)
26th March 2025, 7:50
I think it was after the Australian GP when sky interviewed Horner and asked what Liam Lawson needed, his answer was “time”.
If they do this swap I’d love them to remind him of this and check that by “time” he meant one more race.
Graham Dwyer
26th March 2025, 8:01
OK so RB got it wrong going with Lawson. I really hope that Yuki gets the drive to show Lawson how it`s done. As soon as he opened his big mouth to say that Yuki had had his chance now it`s my turn. “KARMA” was always going to haunt him. Very childish of Lawson to speak to the world press with comments like that and he will pay the price.
Bob
26th March 2025, 9:18
Dangerous four Yuki. I reminds me of Ferrari in 2009. The car was descent, but apparently hard to adjust to. When Massa fell out, Badoer got his big chanse. But couldn’t follow Raikonen at all. Fisichella replaced him after a few weeks, although he got a great result with Forca India just before, he also couldn’t handle the Ferrari and underpreformed aswell.
You can’t say that both drivers are bad, but when looking at the championship, I noticed the regular drivers, Massa and Raikkonen also needed a few races before they managed points.
Mog
26th March 2025, 9:30
So, the refused to confirm.
Was the question “Can you confirm Yuki to replace Liam?” Answer “no”.
Headline: Yuki all but confirmed to replace Lawson by Suzuka
When in reality what might have happened is the rumour mill got churning and a conveniently ambiguous question about was answered ambiguously by Red Bull
anon
26th March 2025, 9:46
I remember saying this on an article when Lawson first got the drive that it was a ridiculous decision because the field was too tight and he had never shown anything in qualifying. Right now qualifying is very important because starting out of position destroys your race. Perez was fine in the races, Lawson too. It was the comparison of George Russel and Lewis Hamilton last year. George started ahead and had mostly easier races due to being faster in qualifying.
I believe Yuki is a fast qualifier, certainly faster than Ricciardo, Lawson and de Vries. I think those three are slightly better in the races than Yuki but after starting so far down were always compromised, the same as Perez and Hamilton in 2024. So, if Yuki can keep up his qualifying performances and be 2 tenths faster than Liam in the Red Bull that would have got him into Q2 in China. Not great but certainly better than P20.
Red Bull need to fix their car, that’s for sure.
Erk
26th March 2025, 10:00
Ricciardo, NDV and Liam were certainly not better than Yuki in races…
tielemst
26th March 2025, 9:53
Well, this would be ridiculous and more proof that there are different favorites for the powers that be in the RedBull organization. A bit like the De Vries situation where Horner didn’t like him and really wanted Ricciardo in the car, only even more extreme. At least De Vries got some races in (and didn’t perform very well)
Word of caution: I don’t know about that french news outlet but De Telegraaf is the dutch equivalent of the Daily Mail in terms of opportunism and accuracy.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
26th March 2025, 10:22
What I don’t know is just how much time is Lawson spending in their simulator? Reports are that theirs is one of the best and I’d expect it to be performing like the current car.
Lawson “should” be spending as much time as possible glued to the seat of that thing doing lap after lap, experimenting with setup and just getting on top of its “Difficulties” not speaking to the press or doing promo work, just driving.
If he’s not, then saying the car is difficult probably doesn’t cut it.
entah
26th March 2025, 11:14
Simulator has its limitation
https://youtu.be/FPxoXtR9DxE?si=60_TXEKLZbAUF3ts
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
26th March 2025, 11:33
Poor management by Red Bull again…am I surprised??
They should make a clear announcement on the situation. They should say we are giving Lawson another X number of races (2/3?) and then we will make a decision on the rest of the season. OK it piles more pressure on him but that’s what this game is about with the RB organisation.
Coventry Climax
26th March 2025, 16:17
They ‘should’ do nothing of the sort.
This is a rumor, started by the press, and they are under zero obligation to reply to it, either in the affirmative or in the negative.
And then, if they did respond, half the people here would not believe them anyway, so it’s utterly pointless to get ahead of things and it’s utterly pointless to speculate.
By some of the things that are said here, all of the people at Red Bull Racing are completely ignorant and also intrinsically bad persons. I find that very hard to believe, especially in the light of what they have achieved so far.
JeroenJ
26th March 2025, 18:06
Exactly. Lots of people seem to get carried away here.
Comment of the day!
t1redmonkey (@t1redmonkey)
26th March 2025, 11:54
Seems extremely premature, but hey, it’s Red Bull so I’m not surprised. No doubt Yuki will also be out by the end of the year too.
Sergey Martyn
26th March 2025, 12:07
Hahaha!
Red Bull has not confirmed reports it has decided to drop Liam Lawson… – they just want to kick him out!
Rudolf Medved
26th March 2025, 12:36
Cant they swap drivers in practise session first, to see lap times?
Riker (@corsair)
26th March 2025, 13:53
If this actually happens… what an absolute joke!
You can’t make a decision after two races – one of which was a wet race – when the second car also had issues in the both races.
That second Red Bull seat is just toxic at the moment. Why would any driver want it? The car is made for Verstappen’s driving style. The only way the second Red Bull seat will actually start to succeed is if Red Bull develop car that isn’t centred around one driver.
Alonslow
26th March 2025, 14:33
I can bet that 100% of the drivers of Sauber, Hass, RB, Alpine and Williams would want it, it’s a fast car in Max’s hands therefore if you are as good as Max (and everyone in F1 thinks they’re the best) you should do good and get points every race which is a guaranteed all those teams don’t have.
Anyway I find a early switch far better than the mid season switch, at worst Yuki does just as bad and if Yuki is better than Liam then there are a lot more races for him to actually help out Max instead of a mid season switch in which Max WDC and Red Bull WCC challenge may already be over because of the 2nd driver starting last every race.
It’s harsh for Lawson’s career sure, but I don’t think Red Bull cares that much about him, he was always a stop gap for Hadjar or Lindblad, his junior career especially at F3/F2 was nothing amazing so there’s no need to be so loyal to him, if Yuki is better then it’s relegation to Racing Bulls time.
Craig
26th March 2025, 15:23
The second Red Bull seat has been toxic for a long time, I think Riccardo was the only one to defy it and he was eventually pushed to leave (perhaps not actively, but it was pretty apparent when Red Bull had chosen a new golden boy regardless of his own performances). Perez did start well enough but as soon as he got the idea of potentially challenging for more then the occasional win things seemed to change rapidly on his side of the garage.
I’d always advice any driver against taking that seat as so long as Red Bull has a golden boy they couldn’t care less about the other seat, unless they got ideas above their station in which case things ‘change’ very quickly.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
26th March 2025, 15:08
It’s insane for a team to drop a new driver after 2 weeks especially with one of those weeks being a wet race. But with Red Bull, it’s a serious topic and not just dismissed as crazy talk.
Leo B
26th March 2025, 16:35
If I was to guess I’d say Zak Brown planted this story in the press.
bull mello (@bullmello)
26th March 2025, 23:31
BBC Says:
Red Bull have delivered one of the most ruthless driver moves in F1 history after deciding to drop Liam Lawson after just two races.
The 23-year-old New Zealander will swap places with Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda and return to Red Bull’s second team, Racing Bulls, from the next race in Japan in a week’s time.