Liam Lawson set to be replaced by Yuki Tsunoda at Red Bull as Max Verstappen's team-mate from Japanese Grand Prix
Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson are poised to switch teams for the Japanese Grand Prix; Lawson's disappointing performances at Red Bull in the opening two events leading to a return to Racing Bulls; Tsunoda set to make Red Bull debut on home soil at Suzuka on April 4-6
Wednesday 26 March 2025 17:06, UK
Red Bull are set to replace Liam Lawson with Yuki Tsunoda after just two races of the Formula 1 season from next week’s Japanese Grand Prix.
Lawson will return to Racing Bulls - the company's junior team - from the Suzuka race in a straight swap with Tsunoda after a difficult start at Red Bull as Max Verstappen's team-mate.
Red Bull have not commented and no official announcement is expected on Wednesday.
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The 23-year-old Lawson has endured a dismal start to 2025 so far, being knocked out at the first stage of all three qualifying sessions (including one in the Sprint format) and has struggled for race pace compared to Verstappen, scoring no points in Australia and China.
Tsunoda has been at the sister Red Bull-owned outfit since 2021 but did not get the nod to replace Sergio Perez, who was left without an F1 seat for 2025.
He will be the fifth team-mate for Verstappen since Daniel Ricciardo left at the end of 2018.
But while both Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon experienced brief and unsuccessful tenures next to Verstappen when young drivers after also being promoted through the Red Bull ranks, Lawson's time at the senior team has proved to be astonishingly short.
Horner had notably refused to confirm following last Sunday's Chinese GP that Lawson would still be in the car at the next race in Suzuka on April 4-6 after initial reports on Autosport that he might not. The first reports that Red Bull had duly decided to decided to make a change with Tsunoda emerged in the Dutch media, De Limburger followed by De Telegraaf.
Why have Red Bull made the sudden change?
Analysis from Sky Sports News reporter Craig Slater:
"Red Bull give but Red Bull also take away.
"Christian Horner explained at the end of last year that Liam Lawson's mental strength was one of the reasons he got the nod ahead of Yuki Tsunoda for the senior team drive. Lawson will have to call on all that mental strength now.
"This will be cruel, but to an extent might taking him out of the firing line be of longer-term benefit? He has struggled far more than anticipated to get to grips with this car.
"I've spoken to people with a window on how Lawson's been over the first two grand prix weekends. "Frazzled", "at a loss" and "too much too soon" are the kind of phrases they've used. Results, albeit from a small sample, are way adrift of any the team have posted before; an 18th and two 20ths in qualifying is not Red Bull form.
"Yet there are absolutely no guarantees Yuki Tsunoda will suddenly be running up there and close to Max Verstappen in qualifying. Yet the No 1 priority for the team is still giving Verstappen a winning car even if only he can really master it, rather than finessing the car to improve the form of the No 2 driver."
Lawson in, Lawson out - What's gone wrong so soon?
Lawson was promoted ahead of Tsunoda to the seat on December 19 as Red Bull moved to end Sergio Perez's time at the team after the experienced Mexican's sustained struggles in the seat despite giving him a two-year contract earlier in the year.
Whereas Tsunoda had just completed his fourth season at what is now Racing Bulls, Lawson had only driven in 11 grands prix for the outfit over the previous 15 months and been both outqualified and outscored by the Japanese driver during that time.
However, Red Bull were understood at the time to have given Lawson the seat because they viewed him as being better suited to the challenge of being Verstappen's team-mate and, given his F1 inexperience relative in his handful of appearances at Racing Bulls, had run close to Tsunoda's pace already and had a higher ceiling of performance to find.
But Lawson's struggles with the RB21 during the first two race weekend have led to a sudden, and until last weekend unexpected, reappraisal of the situation with Tsunoda to now finally get his chance at the top team from Suzuka, his home race.
Speaking after Lawson qualified last and finished outside the points in both the Sprint and Grand Prix sessions in Shanghai, team principal Christian Horner said: "I think Liam still has got potential, we're just not realising that at the moment. I think the problem for him is, he's had a couple of really tough weekends, he's got all the media on his back.
"The pressure just naturally grows in this business, and I feel very sorry for him. You can see it's very tough on him at the moment.
"He's a young guy, we've got a duty to look after him and we're going to do the best that we can to support him.
"Liam's still a very capable driver. We know that, just for whatever reason, we're not seeing him able to deliver that at the moment."
Tsunoda, meanwhile, has started his season strongly for Racing Bulls.
The 24-year-old qualified fifth and ninth in Australia and China respectively, scoring points with sixth in the latter event's Sprint race. He would also likely have scored points in both the main grands prix so far too but for botched strategy calls by the team which dropped him down the order.
Formula 1 heads to the iconic Suzuka Circuit for the Japanese Grand Prix on April 4-6, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - No contract, cancel anytime
