Red Bull have performed another of their stunning mid-season driver changes – and this week’s was perhaps their most brutal yet.
Pierre Gasly was shown the door 12 races into his first year with the team. Daniil Kvyat was turfed out four grands prix into his second season to make way for Max Verstappen.But they enjoyed long tenures compared to Liam Lawson. He has been demoted to Red Bull’s second team after just a pair of appearances for the team. It’s the soonest any team has dispensed with a new driver at the start of a season for more than three decades.
It’s hard not to take the sudden switch as a sign the team has realised it made a mistake when it picked Lawson at the end of last season. But does that make it right to drop him so soon?
For
Lawson never got anywhere near the pace of his team mate Max Verstappen. He was over a second off the pace in Australia and still three-quarters of a second away in China. No other driver was that far behind his team mate.
The pace wasn’t there in the races either. He was far from the only rookie to hit trouble in Melbourne but he was nowhere near Verstappen’s pace up to that point either. In China he tried a radical change in set-up, to no avail.
Last year Red Bull lost the constructors’ championship because they failed to replace Sergio Perez when he was clearly under-performing. The decision on Lawson is tough but Red Bull couldn’t risk a repeat of last season.
Against
Red Bull never gave Lawson an adequate opportunity to show what he is capable of and have dropped him too soon. Both his starts came on tracks he had never previously driven at in any category.
Technical problems meant he completed fewer laps than any driver in testing besides the unwell Lance Stroll. More problems prevented him from driving in final practice in Australia.
His performance in China showed a slight improvement in one-lap pace, but as this was a sprint race weekend he was again short of practice time. Aside from a spin on slick tyres in the rain he has largely avoided incidents and did not deserve to be ousted so hastily.
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I say
It’s hard to take issue with Red Bull’s decision to replace Lawson based on his performance alone. He did not look up to the job.
But that only underlines what a strange decision it was to give him the seat in the first place. Red Bull’s reasoning was that he had virtually matched Tsunoda’s pace despite having less experience, which is fine up to a point, but that lack of running was always going to count against him when it came to getting used to an unfamiliar car.
I’m sceptical about the team’s claims that Tsunoda has made a leap forward in performance since the end of last year. He’s shown flashes of pace in qualifying, but that is in part down to the quality (and drive-ability) of his car. His mistake in Shanghai allowed his less experienced team mate to out-qualify him.
Tsunoda was probably the right choice in the first place, though that remains to be seen, and it’s hardly fair on Lawson to write him off so quickly. So I tend to disagree that Red Bull have done the right thing with this call – though I hope for Tsunoda’s sake his debut on home ground goes well.
You say
Is Red Bull right to replace Lawson with Tsunoda at this point in the season? Cast your vote below and have your say in the comments.
Do you agree Red Bull have done the right thing by replacing Liam Lawson with Yuki Tsunoda after two rounds?
- No opinion (2%)
- Strongly disagree (30%)
- Slightly disagree (24%)
- Neither agree nor disagree (6%)
- Slightly agree (19%)
- Strongly agree (19%)
Total Voters: 118
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IMOLAFTW
30th March 2025, 8:41
I don’t see how demoting Lawson is writing him off for a future place in the senior team. It was always a dumb decision.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
30th March 2025, 8:51
Lawson is better off challenging for top 10’s vs failing at the back of the grid. And Yuki was the best driver at VCARB last year. Now if Red Bull can stop favoring just one driver and care about the setup of their #2 driver, they might actually find some success; especially in the long run.
Komu (@tobikomu)
30th March 2025, 11:32
Yeah, maybe that way they can finally win a championship.
Johns
30th March 2025, 17:51
Well logic hasn’t worked in the past, maybe randomness will find the best teammate for max.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
31st March 2025, 5:14
No one EVER made it back to red bull after being demoted, so his chances are pretty slim.
Jon
30th March 2025, 8:45
In next grand Prix.
If lawson qualified 8th and Yuki qualified 18th we will know the issue.
And that won’t be good for red bull
MarcusAurelius (@marcusaurelius)
30th March 2025, 17:47
This is what I am so curious about…
Robert
31st March 2025, 8:02
Exactly! If this is the intention of the switch, or just a side-effect, it’s way more interesting than the team driver management ethics. Whatever the results are they will say a lot of both teams cars, Tsunoda, Lawson, and Verstappen.
If Tsunoda struggles as much as Lawson did with the RedBull, then we know that car is a mess to drive and Verstappen is performing miracles with it. If he gets close to Verstappen, we know Tsonoda is better (at least in a RedBull car) than Lawson. If Lawson is performing better back in the RB, maybe even beating Tsunoda in the RedBull, then again that says a lot about the quality of the two different cars. And if Lawson is still performing badly back in the RB, then he has lost something, temporarily or not, and need time to settle himself again.
Craig
31st March 2025, 11:07
More likely the car is designed for Verstappen rather then he’s performing miracles
Moi
31st March 2025, 11:16
Of course, heaven forbid you give some credit to Max
grat
31st March 2025, 15:12
The RB20 went in a bit of a different direction aerodynamically from the RB19, lifting some (not all) concepts from the Mercedes W13 zero-pod car. That car was an unstable beast that neither Lewis nor Russell could master. Not saying the RB20 (and now RB21) are equally bad, but there seem to be some underlying characteristics of “unpredictability” in both.
While I don’t particularly like Max as a person, and I’m not a fan of how he exploits the rules on corners, the reality is, he’s a very, very talented driver and seems to be one of the few people in F1 who could drive the RB20 / RB21 successfully.
But because he could make the car work, I think Red Bull took a wrong turn with the RB20, and stuck with it this year on the RB21 to produce a car that is fundamentally flawed.
Craig
31st March 2025, 16:15
Doesn’t mean it’s not designed to suit him more then anyone else, hence why it works for him. I’m not pretending Verstappen is bad, but we need to stop pretending he’s some sort of god driver dragging by far the worst car on the grid to the front.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
1st April 2025, 7:24
Yes, you both have a point: it’s certainly a good car, but only in the hands of an adaptable driver, maybe alonso would also be able to make that car work well, and maybe also the other top drivers, and this makes it probably the 4th best car, since the other 3 cars don’t seem to require this much ability to drive around issues.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
30th March 2025, 9:07
I felt that Yuki should have been given Perez’s seat for the last 4 or 5 races last year.
If he wasn’t up to the job, then this year put him back and try out Lawson/Hadjar this season.
I do not think this is all down to Lawsons driving though.
They said they knew he would struggle for the first two races, but that he would come good on tracks he knew.
So why are they replacing him despite the fact he has done exactly what they predicted he would?
As usual Red Bull gives the impression that there is far more than meets the eye here.
Too many ego-maniacs pulling too many strings in my opinion.
BasCB (@bascb)
30th March 2025, 17:58
Yeah, I picked “slightly agree” with changing tack this soon, since I see it as a correction of a wrong decision on whom to promote in the first place. I do think Lawson will get more of a chance to grow into it and show his potential at the smaller team.
But Red Bull driver management hasn’t been their strong point for a few years now.
MacLeod (@macleod)
31st March 2025, 7:57
Agree with your comment, Yuki should be promoted much earlier.
Sergey Martyn
30th March 2025, 9:32
Marko crawling on all four to Newey begging him to return won’t work because Aston Martin showered him with gold and diamonds, but there is a slight chance to crawl to Sainz – otherwise who will replace Yuki after the next couple of rounds? Kvyat?
Jojo
30th March 2025, 13:21
Sainz is struggling with the balance or the Williams, which is said to be more on the pointy side. I’d guess he might struggle more with the balance of the Red Bull. Maybe Red Bull could go full circle and try to get Albon to come back!
Konstantinos
30th March 2025, 9:49
Who knows, if Red Bull themselves can predict performance who can? It’s a gamble, I guess we will find out soon enough.
What I don’t understand is how it is fair for the constructors championship to have a team with four cars (and four active drivers) that just switches drivers around whenever they want to. How is this fair for the other teams?
Coventry Climax
30th March 2025, 13:25
The other teams all had their chances to buy second teams in the past, but they chose not to.
Aston Martin / Stroll is hailed for being the saviour of Force India, but then Red Bull must take blame for for saving Minardi/Stoddart?
Talk about fair here.
rprp
30th March 2025, 13:46
Good point well made. It’s within the rules, and all the other teams have and had the same opportunity. For a while FI and Williams were mini-Merc feeder teams and guaranteed to vote the same way as Merc, on account of them getting the best engine by far. Ferrari had the opportunity to place drivers in Haas and Marussia. Both organisations could afford to buy them outright.
Konstantinos
30th March 2025, 15:12
Well, then the rules are unfair. I am not putting the blame on Red Bull for taking advantage of them. The reality of the situation is that you have a team with substitute drivers readily available and others don’t. I am only questioning it from the perspective of how it affects the sport competitively.
It just seems like a bizarre loop hole in the system to me. If allowing this means saving certain teams then go ahead and allow it but have certain restrictions to allow for fair competition. Not sure what those could be but perhaps something in the line of restricting exchange of information, restricting driver transfers etc. could be something worth thinking about.
Perhaps also for failing teams, allowing external parties a first stab at purchase before existing teams make a bid could be something to consider?
Coventry Climax
30th March 2025, 18:24
The rules were the same for all teams.
Whether I agree with them is irrelevant to them being fair or not, and to be fair, the same applies to you.
Konstantinos
31st March 2025, 9:46
Ok, calling a rule unfair is admittedly badly worded but it is actually the opinion on the situation (the whether people agree with it or not part) that I personally think is the interesting part to discuss.
MichaelN
30th March 2025, 17:23
Red Bull did get credit for keeping the Faenza squad around for 2006. That’s almost 20 years ago.
Since 2010, when the outflow of teams had stopped and F1 once again had 13 teams and a full grid, this excuse hasn’t held up. All the more so now that the FIA is turning away new applicants.
Ferdi
30th March 2025, 10:29
50 to 60% of all articles on the site are on RedBull. Would be nice to get some more info on other teams. There are 9 other teams, soon 10.
rprp
30th March 2025, 13:49
Is there any other news of note right now? You could check out other sites, with even worse click bait articles about Hamilton and DSQ “theories” and “evidence”, or articles talking about Riccardo being in the paddock of the Australian grand prix (note, he’s Australian) as though it’s something relevant to what’s going on now.
MacLeod (@macleod)
31st March 2025, 8:01
There must be news otherwise none can reports it and creating news we aren’t Trump persons……
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
30th March 2025, 10:50
Look, they’re even painting the car white for Suzuka to make Yuki feel at home!
Maybe they’ll stumble upon the right choice this time, a driver with four years instead of about four races in the junior team.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
30th March 2025, 10:55
I think “Stumble” is the right word.
There seems to be precious little coordinated thought or planning going on at Red Bull these days.
Craig
31st March 2025, 11:10
Can’t argue with that. I’ve always likened their approach to their driver program being like throwing as many wet rags as possible against a wall until one sticks.
Jere (@jerejj)
30th March 2025, 10:55
I was initially about strongly disagreeing, but I think I’m more towards slightly disagreeing after a bit of time since the confirmation.
All in all, I still view this swap with immediate effect as something that won’t make a difference performance level-wise, albeit giving Tsunoda time in the main team is otherwise good with the Honda backing relevant until the season is over.
Osvaldas31 (@osvaldas31)
30th March 2025, 10:57
It was obvious Lawson will not improve significantly enough in that car this year. So they had to replace him, because second car was not scoring any points, and was not going to score many this season. But yeah, Lawson should not have been picked for this year, nor he was some kind of special talent. RB have to find a driver whose driving style would be more like Vertsappen’s Tsunoda might be the one, but we’ll see. This reminds me when Alonso was humiliating every team mate he encountered since 2008.
Moi
30th March 2025, 11:02
Eh. They should have had Tsunoda in that car to begin with, and Lawson at the junior team.
But having made the call to put Lawson next to Max, they should have stuck with it for at least 6 races or so, to see how he developed. They could have used the time inbetween to start prepping Tsunoda via simulator etc, right now he is thrown into the deep end at his home race.
Jungle
30th March 2025, 11:14
Stop making sense Moi
Steve Rogers (@yossarian)
30th March 2025, 11:09
As cruel as it is on theor drivers i actually agree with the decision.
I think Red Bull have finally accepted the issue is the car and being able to cope with whatever its doing is more important than raw ability of the driver. A “worse” driver who can deal with it will be quicker than an otherwise quicker driver who can’t. So it makes sense to rapidly go through their drivers in the hopes of finding one who can cope.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
1st April 2025, 7:30
Now, that’s a very good point, and in that sense, despite ricciardo not impressing in the toro rosso recently, given the rumors he had a similar style as verstappen, they definitely should’ve given him a few races to try before retirement, perhaps the moment they decided to drop him from toro rosso at singapore.
BLS (@brightlampshade)
30th March 2025, 11:45
I don’t think it matters so much whether it works out or not. What’s important for RBR is to work out why it works if Yuki does indeed go well against Max.
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
30th March 2025, 11:49
I went with slightly agree insofar as I think tsunoda should have been in that seat in the first place. Lawson should have been given a full year at toro rosso alongside hadjar. I don’t expect tsunoda will do a huge amount better than Lawson but if he can scrape through to Q2 and finish in the tail end of the points, the move will be justified. I’m glad Lawson will be back at the junior team so he’ll have the opportunity to redeem himself. I think if you look at Sergio, Alex and Pierre’s records before and after leaving RBR, it’s clear none of them were poor drivers.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
31st March 2025, 7:41
I agree with this comment (@tommy-c). The Red Bull seat should have been given to Yuki. He has far more experience than Liam does. One point overlooked is Red Bull’s strategy at the Australian GP was awful, and they admitted it, so Liam shouldn’t be blamed for failing to reach the chequered flag at Melbourne. As I’ve said before, when you set someone up to fail, and then they fail, haven’t they done what you wanted them to do? I don’t see how doing what your employer wants you to do is reason for the employer grumbling, or worse demoting them.
David BR (@david-br)
30th March 2025, 12:14
Strongly agree, though it’s brutal. Lawson wasn’t good enough when promoted (though Red Bull disagree for whatever bizarre reasons) and proved that in just two GP weekends. Marko gave the game away – though it has always been obvious – that they need the second driver to be in the top 6-8 solely for ‘team strategy,’ meaning to help Max Verstappen. Their rationale is still flawed by the fact that (a) Red Bull don’t have easily the fastest car, (b) all the top teams are very close, (c) the other top teams have excellent driving pairings,, and (d) further down the grid is packed with experienced good drivers, including Fernando Alonso. So the only way to have a second driver consistently in the top 6-8 is for them to be excellent – fast, consistent, experienced in a troublesome Red Bull. But not anyone good enough to ‘unsettle’ Max. It’s an impossible ask. That equation simply doesn’t work.
Tsunoda is now their only immediate choice. A reasonable amount of experience and sheer will to prove the team wrong may be enough for him to survive longer. I admire Tsunoda’s resilience and he used to be a fun driver to watch in his first season so I hope he does a lot better. But Red Bull’s bigger problem is holding on to Verstappen.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
1st April 2025, 7:32
The way you describe the driver they needed makes me think of sainz (nevermind his underperformance in williams, last year’s sainz was great and they had all the time to get him).
Jojo
30th March 2025, 13:31
Demoted after two races is harsh but at least Lawson gets to stay in F1 and try to prove himself again, so not the end of the world.
I’m in two minds about the timing. Arguably Yuki should have been put in the car at the start of the season, he would have been my first pick based on his experience and his performance last year. However if say Yuki’s first two races had been poor in the Red Bull and he was being out qualified by Lawson, no doubt we’d be hearing the reverse argument. At least this way we’ll know that Lawson wasn’t ready and that the car can be tricky to drive.
I hope Yuki can get more out of it and do well. We’ll see soon enough.
dutchtreat (@dutchtreat)
30th March 2025, 13:56
If it is true that Honda pays generously for Yuki’s drive, and the fact that it is better for Liam’s mental health, I see the point and support it.
Dex
30th March 2025, 14:06
I don’t know. Maybe I’ll know tomorrow, when I read another article about the same subject.
Ankita
30th March 2025, 14:54
I know that there is an anti-Perez bias but was he really underperforming or was the car underperforming ? That response was very clear at the end of the 2024 season but now it is not clear anymore. Tsunoda might give us the answer.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
30th March 2025, 15:26
It was very odd, the way his performances went off a cliff like an old set of Pirellis. It was an ok start to 2024, then the irony of his form after signing a new Red Bull contract.
I’d love to see a no-holds-barred interview with Checo but that may be years away, or never.
MacLeod (@macleod)
31st March 2025, 8:07
It could be a cracked chassis but the upgrade after Spain was the problem as BOTH drivers were complaining the stability of the car.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
1st April 2025, 7:40
Not exactly, he was underperforming 1-2 races before signing the contract, so red bull had all the time to wait and ensure he performed till they extended it.
MichaelN
30th March 2025, 17:28
There was never a good answer as to why Pérez went from scoring podiums at the start of 2024 to suddenly being a joke in the same season.
The amount of passes Horner gets from the F1 press is unreal. There is something off about that second Red Bull, not in a conspiratorial sense but in the way it is run, and it’s been that way for years with minor exceptions when the car was utterly dominant and even finishing 30 seconds behind Verstappen was good enough for podiums. But for some reason, Red Bull’s “It’s the driver’s fault, d’oh!” is just taken as gospel.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
1st April 2025, 7:41
In part that going from scoring podiums to disaster can be explained by having a dominant car early season, then not even the best one.
An Sionnach
30th March 2025, 18:13
My take is that they consider Tsunoda more expendable since he’ll be gone next year, anyway. I think Lawson should have been given Suzuka, even if that meant committing him to more races due to insufficient time between the next ones until May. Based on the data so far and Liam’s feedback that might mean dropping a lot of points before the car can be fixed. Tsunoda is their best shot, but he will do well to score many points.
An Sionnach
30th March 2025, 18:17
Whatever the reasons for the Lawson move, I’d be surprised if Marko isn’t right about Tsunoda being there for the rest of the season. He said the Honda backing and implied extra money wasn’t pivotal in making the decision. It should make it very difficult to reverse it as they cannot mess with Honda. Perhaps that’s why Yuki wasn’t chosen first. He’s now their last resort.
Edvaldo
30th March 2025, 19:10
The Lawson choice was a brainfart for all involved. With the other team, he was serviceable at best in the few races he had raced. That was never enough to ensure he was good enough for a top team with a tricky car. Tsunoda isn’t brilliant, but he was the better choice, be it because he has more experience to deal with the car’s issues, be it because he has had a long enough career already, so that in the case he gets dropped, we won’t be saying he didn’t get a shot.
Lawson and Hadjar can decide between themselves who takes the seat next season. Or, who knows, may even be promoted to Max’s seat as the talks he’s leaving are increasing by the day.
Franky
30th March 2025, 20:26
The problem is the team philosophy of delivering the “fastest” car, even if it’s undriveable. The 75%+ focus on one driver, disregarding or at least not giving enough attention to the other driver. If by some very narrow probability, Yuki manages to be a “good fit” it will seem miraculous because Yuki, even being a good driver, is not on par with Max.
So at least it will be a very interesting show, but definitely it doesn’t change almost anything regarding red Bull’s problems. He will not add to the solution it is just an “on-the-road” fix
SteveP
30th March 2025, 21:12
If you’re in the realms of probability, you have to accept that there is, however remote, a possibility that Yuki could drive the current car better than Max.
What then?
Franky
30th March 2025, 22:48
Then Yuki is an undercover genius and he deserves all success. For what I have seen that is not the reality. He is on par with all the previous discarded red Bull’s options. I will accept joyously if he is the hidden gem he needs to be.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
1st April 2025, 7:44
There is not the slightest chance of that happening, this is stuff we could bet our house on if we owned one.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
31st March 2025, 0:09
Strongly disagree. Kid had 2 races, 1 in wet where the kept him on slicks, and both tracks he never raced on. Yuki should have had a whole offseason to prepare. Unfair to Lawson and Tsunoda.
Ajaxn
31st March 2025, 23:53
Agreed. These decisions show a lack of mental strength at Red Bull.
What were they thinking? Were they even thinking?
I hope Yuki is up to the task. This is a huge ask: his home race in the top car, in a car he has never driven.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
31st March 2025, 5:08
Slightly agree in the sense it was wrong to promote lawson in the first place, BUT rather than waiting half a season, better now, don’t want another perez 2023-2024.
Franky
31st March 2025, 6:27
Brace for it. It is not Perez, Lawson or Tsunoda. It was not Gasly or Albon. It is the Verstappen tailored team. Until the new rules they may have a new chance. But I strongly doubt they will change focus. Second driver is doomed to subservient treatment and tools.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
1st April 2025, 7:48
I have no doubt the car is difficult to drive, but there must be someone who can, and if you think about it, perez in his first 1,5 years at red bull, was at least doing a bottas-job, as in an ok number 2, then he dropped off.
Dundee
31st March 2025, 11:39
I don’t think this swap showes that Lawson lacks the skill. It’s just yet another sign of how Red Bull is structured. What he should think of instead is his attitude ,because that was a bit much especially end of last year. He can forget about the main team ,as that is not happening and focus on showing his performance and growth to other possible teams. In short , kill it for the rest of the season and get a chance some place else, because after this season there will be spots up for grabs i’m sure.
VissileF1 (@mark-visser99)
1st April 2025, 18:00
I think there needs to be a follow-up / 2nd question to the poll.
“Should RedBull have given Lawson (instead of Tsunoda) the second RedBull seat for the 2025 season in the first place?”
Would be interesting to see those results (although hindsight is always 20:20).