Red Bull’s brutal decision to demote Liam Lawson to Racing Bulls after two races has been the talk of the Formula 1 paddock ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix.
Lawson was backed by the Milton Keynes squad as the perfect replacement for Sergio Perez, having cost them the Constructors’ Championship last season.
Having failed to make it out of Q1 twice, crashed on his debut in Melbourne, and failed to make it into the points in China, Red Bull decided to take action knowing Lawson’s confidence had reached a low point.
Red Bull’s Thai owners expressed their concerns behind the scenes, while a decision was made in the aftermath for the swap.
Tsunoda’s promotion should help Red Bull get on top of the problems they face with the RB21 given his experience, but there is one unintended consequence of Lawson’s demotion to Racing Bulls according to team principal Laurent Mekies when speaking on F1 TV.
Racing Bulls will have longer debriefs with Liam Lawson returning
Lawson’s arrival at Racing Bulls will see the team have its most inexperienced lineup since 2015, when both Verstappen and Carlos Sainz made their debuts.
Mekies believes this could present a challenge for them in debriefs, especially given Lawson’s limited knowledge of their 2025 car.
“Yuki on car development was having a very strong input. On the one hand Liam [Lawson] has done more races, on the other he will have to discover this car,” said Mekies.
“So it’s going to be an interesting dynamic. Probably a bit more work as a team around them to make sure we go and pick the right directions for the future and it’s going to be so lap time-sensitive given the tightness of the midfield, we probably have to have longer driver meetings than usual.”
READ MORE: Yuki Tsunoda has already repaired some of the damage Sergio Perez did at Red Bull without turning a wheel
Yuki Tsunoda told what needs to do on a ‘constant basis’ at Red Bull
Tsunoda faces a challenging first race weekend with Red Bull at the highly technical Suzuka circuit, especially given it is another circuit that has high tyre degradation.
The Japanese driver has spent the last few days in the Red Bull simulator getting used to the RB21, having already identified some of the problems the team is facing.
Red Bull has told Tsunoda he must stay within at least 0.3s of Verstappen, which means he would be looking at a top six finish in Japan.
Tsunoda could also become the third driver to stand on the podium of his home race, after it was last achieved by Kamui Kobayashi in 2012.
