Liam Lawson faces the prospect of having the shortest Red Bull career in the team’s history, after a disastrous start to his 2025 campaign.
The 23-year-old replaced Sergio Perez but has so far been unable to deliver any improved performance alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull.
Lawson suffered a race-ending crash at the opening around in Melbourne, then in Shanghai, he failed to make it out of Q1 and started from the pit lane for a second race in a row.
Having failed to progress any higher than P15 on the road, Lawson was promoted to a best finishing position of P12 after both Ferrari drivers and Pierre Gasly were disqualified for technical infringements.
Lawson now faces the prospect of being replaced by Yuki Tsunoda, as Red Bull executives hold talks over a potential swap as early as the Japanese Grand Prix. A report from Dutch publication De Limburger now claims that Red Bull was offered a multi-million pound deal to take Tsunoda in 2025.
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Red Bull offered £17 million by Honda for Yuki Tsunoda to partner Max Verstappen in 2025
Tsunoda’s seat at Racing Bulls is already part of an arrangement between power unit manufacturer Honda and Red Bull, having brought him up through the Honda Formula Dreams Project.
The Japanese car maker currently pays at least €10 million (£8 million) a year for his seat at Racing Bulls, but the report in De Limburger stated that Honda was willing to up that to €20 million (£17 million) for Tsunoda to partner Verstappen at Red Bull.
The report goes on to say that Christian Horner ignored the offer when it was presented to him at the end of last year, but now they have reopened negotiations in the aftermath of Lawson’s poor start to 2025.
Top management at Red Bull has been in contact with Honda to ask how much they would be willing to pay to see Tsunoda at the team for the rest of the season, with the Japanese manufacturer “willing to pay several million to make it a reality”, according to the report.
When will Red Bull make a decision on Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda?
Tsunoda was given a chance to drive Red Bull’s RB20 at last year’s Abu Dhabi post-season test, where he set the 18th quickest time.
Despite the slow time, Red Bull was reportedly impressed by Tsunoda and his feedback, leading to questions over whether he would get the seat.
Red Bull went with Lawson instead because they felt Tsunoda did not have the mental capacity to go up against Verstappen, but now it appears to have been the wrong decision.
| Category | Yuki Tsunoda | Liam Lawson |
| 2024 points | 8 | 4 |
| Grand Prix results | 4 | 2 |
| Grand Prix qualifying | 6 | 0 |
| Grand Prix wins | 0 | 0 |
| Grand Prix poles | 0 | 0 |
| Grand Prix podiums | 0 | 0 |
| Best finish | 7th | 9th |
| Retirements | 1 | 0 |
| Retirements (classified finish) | 0 | 1 |
| Fastest laps | 0 | 0 |
| Grand Prix points finishes | 2 | 2 |
| Sprint results | 0 | 3 |
| Sprint Qualifying | 0 | 3 |
| Sprint wins | 0 | 0 |
| Sprint poles | 0 | 0 |
| Sprint podiums | 0 | 0 |
Bernie Collins thinks Lawson should have ran their 2023 car pre-season to get a feel for the foundation of their car, having only just jumped into the RB21 with limited running in the RB21.
Lawson was downbeat when speaking to media in China like he knew the writing was on the wall for his Red Bull future, according to journalist Andrew Benson. A decision on his future is expect to be made in the upcoming days before the Japanese GP.
