McLaren CEO Zak Brown appears to be stirring the pot regarding Red Bull’s choice of Liam Lawson. The New Zealander, rather than former teammate Yuki Tsunoda, received the coveted Red Bull promotion, but was unable to finish his first race for the Austrian team. According to Brown, Tsunoda is the driver who should be sitting next to Max Verstappen.
When Sergio Pérez’s departure was announced by Red Bull last December, Yuki Tsunoda was one of the two contenders to replace the Mexican. Unfortunately for the Japanese driver, the honor ultimately went to teammate Liam Lawson. The New Zealander made his debut for the Austrian team in Australia, but did not make it past Q1 during qualifying.
Tsunoda, who qualified fifth, then drove a significantly better race than Lawson on Sunday. The New Zealander did not finish due to a crash, while the Japanese driver finished twelfth. McLaren CEO Zak Brown also watched the entire saga unfold, and can only come to one conclusion.
‘Strange Driver Choice’
“It’s going to be an exciting year,” the American tells Sky Sports. “Yuki did great. He should actually be the driver who gets to sit in Red Bull, if you look at his performance.” Brown then seems to add more fuel to the fire at Red Bull. “Red Bull sometimes makes strange driver choices.”
