Red Bull have officially confirmed that Yuki Tsunoda will replace Liam Lawson from the Japanese Grand Prix onwards. In one of the most remarkable calls in recent F1 history, they’ve dropped Lawson just two races into the season.
Lawson’s results were desperately poor, and Red Bull felt they had to act. After a DNF in Australia, he finished 14th in the China Sprint and 12th in the main Grand Prix (despite three disqualifications).
What’s more, Lawson didn’t escape the first segment of qualifying in three attempts. Meanwhile, Tsunoda has impressed over a single lap, qualifying fifth, eighth and ninth for three races to date.
He’s only translated that into three points, but that’s largely for reasons beyond his control. Red Bull will no doubt be impressed, though Lawson’s results may have been a far larger motive for the change.
Yuki Tsunoda may be trading his Racing Bulls car for a slower Red Bull, says Jolyon Palmer
Writing in his column for the sport’s official website, ex-Renault driver Jolyon Palmer raised concerns about Tsunoda’s promotion. Max Verstappen said Racing Bulls had a faster car than Red Bull in China, and Palmer agrees.
Looking at the data, he noticed that Tsunoda was on course to match Verstappen in qualifying before running wide on the entry to the back straight. Only the Dutchman’s ‘generational talent’ allowed him to qualify as high as P4.
Rookie Isack Hadjar qualified seventh and was, from the Red Bull perspective, alarmingly close to Verstappen. Thus, it’s possible that Tsunoda’s results will suffer.
| DRIVER | BEST TIME | POS |
| Max Verstappen | 1:30.817 (Q3) | 4th |
| Isack Hadjar | 1:31.079 (Q3) | 7th |
| Yuki Tsunoda | 1:31.260 (Q2) | 9th |
| Liam Lawson | 1:32.174 (Q1) | 20th |
Long-term, he clearly has a better chance of winning races and scoring podiums at Milton Keynes. But that may rely on the Bulls making their car compliant – and they’re struggling to do that.
“For my money, the [Racing Bulls] car is faster than the Red Bull in qualifying,” Palmer wrote. “Tsunoda qualified within 0.2 seconds of Verstappen in Melbourne and was on for a lap similar to Max in China before making a mistake.
“Instead, it was rookie teammate Hadjar who was 0.2s away from Red Bull’s lead driver. Given Max is a generational talent and one of the greatest drivers of all time, it’s hard to imagine he wouldn’t be able to make up this time were he in the Racing Bulls car. So the one lap pace at least looks on par.
“So it’s a perverse situation for Yuki. In theory, he’s been working his way up to the A team for years now.
“He was 7-2 up in his qualifying head-to-head with Lawson last year, including Sprint qualifying, and in my opinion should have been given the drive over the winter, due to his experience and results. But jumping in mid-season will only be tougher yet for a second driver here, and highlights the tricky situation Red Bull find themselves in.”
What Helmut Marko has now said about Red Bull’s ill-fated Liam Lawson move
Tsunoda was on the Red Bull simulator on Tuesday, around 48 hours before the driver change was confirmed. He tested the RB20 in Abu Dhabi last year but will need time to adapt to the car’s notoriously unique characteristics.
Red Bull will need to explain why they think Tsunoda is equipped to cope with the issues that condemned Lawson, Sergio Perez, Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly. They appear to have changed their mind within three months.
Helmut Marko says Lawson entered a ‘downward spiral’ in the first week of the season, and the team were clearly doubtful that he could get out of it. He already looked like a ‘battered boxer’.
What constitutes success for Tsunoda? Lawson and the latter-day Perez have set an exceedingly low bar, which may aid his cause.
