Former Racing Bulls team principal Franz Tost hasn’t held back with his reaction to Red Bull’s decision to swap Liam Lawson with Yuki Tsunoda.
The Milton Keynes outfit assessed the two drivers towards the end of 2024 as it became clear that they were going to replace Mexican driver Sergio Perez for the 2025 season. The team ultimately decided to promote rookie Lawson to the seat alongside Max Verstappen, but have now reversed this decision after two race weekends of the year.
Now, Tsunoda takes the seat alongside the four-time champion in front of his home crowd in Japan.
Tost, who held the role of team principal at Racing Bulls (previously Toro Rosso, AlphaTauri, and VCARB) from 2006 until the end of 2023, has given his thoughts on the driver moves during an interview on the Austrian ORF broadcast.
“I would have gone with Yuki Tsunoda from the start. I said that already – I made it clear last autumn. Why? Yuki is much faster than Lawson. You could give Lawson 100 years, and he still wouldn’t be as fast as Yuki. And Yuki is more experienced, so what’s the issue? It’s a very simple decision,” he explained.
“It’s definitely a confirmation that the right call was made. Yuki has incredible natural speed – I’ve been saying that for years. Now, he just needs to put it all together properly. He’s still too emotional in the car at times, and maybe that was one of the reasons they didn’t pick him over Lawson in the first place.
Franz Tost, Team Principal, Scuderia AlphaTauri
Photo by: Michael Potts / Motorsport Images
“But in terms of raw pace, Yuki absolutely belongs among the best Formula 1 drivers. And if he can now translate that into consistency, perform in the races, and keep his emotions more or less in check, then it’s going to be a very, very good season for Red Bull Racing and for Yuki Tsunoda.”
ORF reporter Ernst Hausleitner added:
“Given Melbourne and Shanghai, there would have still been the option to let him [Lawson] race here in Suzuka, where he knows the track well. He raced in Super Formula – it’s a circuit he should fundamentally have under control.”
Tost concluded: “Knowing the track is one thing. Being fast is another. The decision to put Yuki in the car now was absolutely right, because Liam is simply too slow.”
Lawson now takes the seat at Racing Bulls alongside fellow rookie Isack Hadjar and can make the most of the opportunity to develop with the team.
