Officially replacing Lawson at Red Bull, the Japanese driver will quickly need to find his bearings and score points. A significant challenge for him.
There’s a changing of the guard on the road to Suzuka. As Yuki Tsunoda takes over the seat of Liam Lawson at Red Bull, as expected for several days, the New Zealander is making the reverse journey and returning to the Racing Bulls team, which has nurtured him over the past two years and will now need to help him rebuild after a brief and traumatic stint at the parent team. The young bull with broken wings can take comfort by looking at the careers of Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon, who were sacrificed on the Red Bull altar before him: resurrection is possible.
In just two Grand Prix, the Red Bull management realized they had made a mistake this winter by preferring, after a long analysis, Lawson over Tsunoda for the seat vacated by Sergio Perez. Struggling in qualifying (18th place in Australia, 20th in China, 20th in the sprint qualification), not much more comfortable in the race (retirement in China, 13th in China) under pressure and completely lost in the strategy to adopt to familiarize himself with his Red Bull, the young and promising hope (23 years old) immediately lost his footing, without showing any sign of potential short-term improvement.
Christian Horner, director of Red Bull Racing
“We acknowledge that there is a lot of work to be done with the RB21. Yuki (Tsunoda)’s experience will prove very beneficial.”
“With a forty-two point deficit to McLaren after just two GPs, Christian Horner and Helmut Marko have backtracked and admitted their casting mistake. “It was difficult for us to see Liam struggling with the RB21 in the first two races and, as a result, we collectively made the decision to quickly change drivers,” commented the team boss. “We approached the 2025 season with two ambitions: to retain the World Drivers’ Championship and to reclaim the World Constructors’ Championship, this is a purely sporting decision.”
Slow corners, where Liam Lawson struggled against Max Verstappen
Understand that even if the timing of the calendar means that this internal move comes right at the time of the Japanese Grand Prix, promising an incredible frenzy next week in Suzuka, Honda did not use its ties with the team to promote its protégé. It is primarily the experience of Tsunoda (4 full seasons and 89 GPs under his belt, 26 of which finished in the points) that Red Bull is apparently interested in, having been struggling with its car for two years, which only Max Verstappen manages to push to the limit and onto the podium. “We recognize that there is a lot of work to do with the RB21, and Yuki’s experience will prove very beneficial in helping to develop the current car,” Horner further clarified.
But the Japanese driver (24 years old) has only known one team in his career and no one knows how he will handle this change in scale and the increased pressure. Because Tsunoda, who has always said he is ready to take on the mission despite his inconsistency (26 finishes in the top 10, 14 retirements), will have to score points. And quickly, because Red Bull has no more time to lose. The team has also been careful in its communication not to specify whether its new recruit is guaranteed to finish the season or not. It’s up to Tsunoda to quickly find his bearings to avoid committing hara-kiri.”
