Liam Lawson has just made one critical Red Bull error which makes ‘immediate’ Yuki Tsunoda seat swap ‘likely’

Liam Lawson has endured the worst possible start to the start of his first season as a full-time Formula 1 driver.

After just 11 Grand Prix starts with AlphaTauri/RB – now Racing Bulls – Liam Lawson was handed a promotion to Red Bull over the winter.

Red Bull confirmed Sergio Perez’s exit and decided to overlook the more experienced Yuki Tsunoda in the process.

However, after several months of preparation, the New Zealander’s start to life with Christian Horner’s team couldn’t have gone any worse.

Lawson is yet to progress through Q1 in any of his three qualifying sessions and after crashing out in Australia, he was never in contention to score points at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Tsunoda, on the other hand, should have scored points in all three races thus far.

However, Tsunoda has been hampered by poor strategies in Australia and China but still sits above Lawson in the drivers’ championship.

READ MORE: Who is Red Bull Racing F1 driver Liam Lawson? Everything you need to know

Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda swap at Red Bull looking ‘likely’

A report from Autosport immediately after the race finished in Shanghai suggested that a swap between Lawson and Tsunoda was ‘likely’ ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen suggested Lawson would be faster at Racing Bulls and that theory may be put to the test very soon.

Red Bull are already considering swapping their drivers and ‘paddock sources’ believe that Tsunoda is his most likely replacement.

A final decision hasn’t been made but discussions have already started and chief advisor Helmut Marko has never been shy about suggesting a driver change if someone is underperforming.

Lawson hasn’t been helped by how strongly Tsunoda has started the season and Isack Hadjar outqualifying both drivers for Sunday’s race in China showed that even the French rookie is making immediate steps forward.

Red Bull are considering an ‘immediate line-up change’ because Lawson has demonstrated a ‘lack of clarity’ on how to extract more performance from the RB21.

In several interviews in both Australia and China, Lawson has underlined his lack of understanding as to why he’s so far off the pace compared to his teammate.

It now looks like a decision is going to be made as soon as next week to decide whether Tsunoda or Lawson will be Verstappen’s teammate at the next race.

READ MORE: Racing Bulls driver Yuki Tsunoda’s life outside F1 from height to parents

Yuki Tsunoda has already shown he’s comfortable driving for Red Bull

One of the things Lawson will point to as he tries to save his seat is that Tsunoda will have even less experience than he has in Red Bull’s car.

Lawson undertook three days of testing in Bahrain with the team and has several practice sessions under his belt as well.

However, despite being associated with the team for a long time, Tsunoda has only driven a Red Bull F1 car once.

That was during post-season testing at the end of last season, but Tsunoda was complimentary about Red Bull’s car and felt comfortable driving it.

Red Bull staff commended Tsunoda after his performance in Abu Dhabi and might be getting to know him a lot better over the coming weeks.

Lawson would need to get up to speed immediately in the Racing Bulls and dominate Isack Hadjar to avoid his Formula 1 status being threatened.