Liam Lawson edged out Racing Bulls teammate Yuki Tsunoda for the Red Bull seat next to Max Verstappen. It became clear the two affiliated drivers were going head-to-head as the team decided to axe Sergio Perez.
In a decisive summit following the Abu Dhabi GP, Red Bull bosses formally agreed that they would part ways with Perez. And they also decided that Lawson would be the replacement.
Over the next week and a half, they negotiated the terms of Perez’s exit. Lawson waited for the green light, and the announcement arrived on Thursday morning.
On paper, the New Zealander has jumped the queue. He’s only raced 11 times in Formula 1, having had two short stints in the car in 2023 and 2024.
Tsunoda, on the other hand, made his debut back in 2021. He’ll hit a century of starts next year, when he’ll also become the de facto junior team’s longest-serving driver.
Christian Horner says Tsunoda feels motivated to prove Red Bull wrong. But it’s clear that they have almost insurmountable concerns about promoting him.
Damon Hill asks Red Bull what more Yuki Tsunoda has to do
In comments shared by Autosport’s Instagram account, Tsunoda half-jokingly said that he’d need ‘pole positions and podiums in every race’ for Red Bull to give him a chance. He scored 30 points in 2024, while his teammates Lawson and Daniel Ricciardo combined for 16.
The race-day head-to-head between Tsunoda and Ricciardo was fairly close overall, with the former prevailing 8-6 (when both drivers finished). But he comfortably beat Lawson 4-1 in this area, while also thrashing him 5-0 in Grand Prix qualifying.
Red Bull prefer to focus on the fact that Lawson is close to Tsunoda after far less time in the car. But if they believe the New Zealander is a top talent, then it’s unreasonable to expect his teammate to be around half a second ahead.
Reacting to Autosport’s post on his Instagram story, 1996 world champion Damon Hill posed a question to Red Bull. Hill, who has stepped away from his Sky Sports F1 punditry duties for next year, seems to be sympathetic to Tsunoda.
“It’s an interesting question,” he wrote. “What does he have to do?”
Red Bull should have released Yuki Tsunoda when one team came knocking
Tsunoda’s Red Bull test mattered little in the end. After joining the programme in 2019, he was finally given a meaningful outing in one of Horner’s cars in Abu Dhabi, but the team had already made their decision by then.
The feeling is that Red Bull were guided by the intangibles. They believe Lawson is more resilient than Tsunoda, which will be vital up against renowned career-killer Max Verstappen.
Haas showed an interest in Tsunoda earlier this year before they signed Esteban Ocon. Red Bull blocked the move by activating the extension clause in his contract.
But in light of their latest snub, they really should have let him go. They’ve prevented a driver they clearly don’t rate from truly launching his career elsewhere, which is arguably unfair treatment.
