Snubbed by Red Bull in favour of Liam Lawson, Robert Doornbos says he “understands” why the Milton Keynes squad decided against promoting Yuki Tsunoda.

After all, says the former F1 driver, the “data never lies”.

Yuki Tsunoda was passed over for Liam Lawson

Although Red Bull looked to have secured their F1 2025 driver line-up in May last year when Sergio Perez was handed a two-year extension, the reassurance over his future didn’t spark a resurgence from the driver. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

Perez’s form, already dipping, went into a downward spiral.

Scoring 107 points in the first third of the championship, Bahrain to Monaco with four podiums in the mix, he managed a mere 45 points in the last two-thirds, Canada to Abu Dhabi. It was a slump that not only cost Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship, where they finished third, but it also cost Perez his Red Bull race seat.

The Mexican driver and Red Bull announced after the season that they’d parted ways with immediate effect, the team confirming Liam Lawson as his replacement the very next day.

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The decision was a huge blow to Red Bull’s longest-serving junior driver Tsunoda. He joined Red Bull’s junior squad in 2021 and, despite outscoring Lawson in their six races together last year, was passed over for the promotion.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said while it was a “tight call”, the “potential with Liam” having only done 11 Grands Prix meant he would “only going to get better and stronger”.

Going on to speak about the “analytics” of Lawson’s races with his pace “slightly better”, Doornbos believes Red Bull made the right call.

“From the options they had, I think it is a sensible choice,” the former F1 driver turned pundit told Motorsport.com.

“You obviously do not make Yuki happy with it, I understand that. He has also been with the training team for too long, it is already his fifth season. But the data never lies.”

Doornbos, who had three races for Red Bull in 2006 after a brief spell with Minardi, believes that Red Bull’s data showed that Lawson is “less risky’ and a “more consistent factor”.

“Considering his character,” he continued, “his lap times and all sorts of other things that are going on behind the scenes, and that we are not aware of. Then I think it is a sensible choice.”

But like many, including former Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz, Doornbos would still like to know the full reasoning behind Red Bull’s decision not to take the Spaniard.

Sainz made his F1 debut in 2015 with Red Bull’s junior team before leaving for Renault after which he joined McLaren and then Ferrari, winning four Grands Prix.

However, when he came knocking at the beginning of last year after losing his Ferrari ride to Lewis Hamilton, Red Bull opted not to re-sign him.

It was suggested at the time that friction between his father, Carlos Sainz Snr. and Max Verstappen’s dad, Jos Verstappen, during their sons’ days together at Toro Rosso, may have put Red Bull off.

“If you look back even further, then you think: why didn’t you just hire Carlos Sainz and put him in that car?” said Doornbos. “He is a proven Grand Prix winner, who is actually at the peak of his career at the moment.

“But we will probably never know what really happened.”

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