Liam Lawson is “already out for the next race” with Ralf Schumacher declaring Yuki Tsunoda “will” replace him at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Although Lawson got the nod for the Red Bull promotion ahead of Tsunoda when the team made the call to drop Sergio Perez, just two races into the F1 2025 championship Red Bull are reportedly reconsidering their decision.

Is the writing on the wall for Liam Lawson?

Lawson struggled in his first two race weekends in the RB21, eliminated in Q1 in all three qualifying sessions and slowest of all in China.

Although Red Bull made setup changes to his Red Bull, he wasn’t able to recover and finished the Grand Prix a minute behind his team-mate Max Verstappen. Lawson crossed the line down in 15th place but was later elevated to 12th when three drivers ahead of him were disqualified.

Lawson’s results mean he is yet to get off the mark this season while Verstappen sits second in the Drivers’ Championship.

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But on the back of a season in which Red Bull persevered with his predecessor Perez, there’s speculation Red Bull won’t go through that again with Lawson.

Even he admits time is not on his side.

Having stated after qualifying “I don’t have time”, he doubled down on that on Sunday.

“I don’t really have time to get used to it, but I need to figure it out as quickly,” he said. “I don’t have time to test the car and get used to it, but we’re in the season already, so each race we’re losing points. That’s more or less what I mean when I don’t have time.

“I’m also not stupid and I know that, obviously, I’m here to perform – and if I’m not doing that, I’m not going to be around. I’m just focused on getting used to the car as quickly as I can.”

Time though, may already be up for the New Zealander, according to Sky pundit Ralf Schumacher.

Speaking after Saturday’s qualifying, the German declared: “You can see that his self-confidence is broken.

“He says he doesn’t have time. That’s why I believe that there must have been something behind the scenes. That’s hard for such a young man.”

But 24 hours later, and with Lawson unable to recover from his pit lane start, Schumacher claimed the decision had been made by the Red Bull bosses.

“Liam Lawson is already out for the next race. Tsunoda will replace him,” he told Sky Sport News.

However, he went on to temper that by saying while Helmut Marko probably wants Lawson out sooner rather than later, Red Bull have to understand that any driver up against Max Verstappen in a car that’s “anything but good” needs time.

He believes Red Bull should therefore continue with the New Zealander and instead focus their efforts on improving the RB21.

“If the doctor has his way, relatively quickly,” he said of Lawson’s days with Red Bull.

“Nevertheless, you have to bear in mind that Red Bull is anything but good at the moment. When you come in as a young new driver and then have to race against the best driver of the current era, who has spent years developing the car around him, no matter who I put next to him, he will be sent home within a few races.

“I would recommend leaving it as it is and making the car better.

“Sergio Perez was good at the beginning last year because the car was good and bad at the end because the car was simply bad. They are not overwhelmed by the task, but they don’t have it under control. It’s a concept of further development and they didn’t manage that last year.”

After all, he can’t see Tsunoda doing any better in the RB21.

“If I was Tsunoda’s manager, I wouldn’t recommend him to go there,” he added. “At the moment, Racing Bulls is the better car and Tsunoda is getting on really well with it. He can’t do himself any favours with it.”

Red Bull will meet this week to discuss the Lawson situation with Tsunoda as well as Isack Hadjar waiting in the wings at Racing Bulls.

“This week there is a meeting in Milton Keynes to discuss when and how we can close the gap,” Marko said. “Until then, it’s about scoring as many points as possible.

“We are worried, but it is not like we are throwing in the towel.”

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