When the Formula 1 field lines up for the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix, the recently demoted Liam Lawson will take his place on the grid ahead of Yuki Tsunoda.

But is that a worthy occasion for a little reunion among the former teammates? Or will the two men make a point of avoiding one another?

Liam Lawson leaves demotion in the past

Without question, the biggest talking point heading into the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix has been Liam Lawson’s sudden demotion.

After two challenging races in which he failed to score a single point, Lawson found himself being swapped with Racing Bulls driver Yuki Tsunoda — meaning Tsunoda would be helping lead the Red Bull outfit alongside Max Verstappen, while Lawson will return to the junior team alongside Isack Hadjar. There, he’ll be expected to continue honing his skills.

There’s no rest in the cutthroat sport of Formula 1, and Lawson has found himself the topic of pre-race conversation as fans and pundits compare his Red Bull performances to Tsunoda’s.

As the weekend got underway, the Japanese driver looked to be adapting well to the team, with practice showing that Tsunoda’s experience seemed to be paying off.

Of the four Red Bull affiliated drivers, though, Tsunoda will be starting the furthest down the grid.

Red Bull Max Verstappen and Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar both made it through to Q3, with the Dutch champion taking a dominant pole position while Hadjar will line up in seventh, even after dealing with a painful seatbelt problem throughout qualifying.

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Lawson and Tsunoda, however, were both eliminated in Q2 — and more than that, they’ll be lining up directly alongside one another on the seventh row of the grid.

Liam Lawson will start 13th, Tsunoda in 14th.

In the media pen after qualifying, Lawson was quizzed on how he might go about handling this situation with Tsunoda. Does he see it as a reunion with a former teammate? Or will he be out to prove that Red Bull made the wrong call in demoting him?

All things considered, the Kiwi seems largely unaffected.

“It’s just another car,” he said of the Red Bull lining up beside him.

Then, he quickly moved on to talk about his hopes for the Grand Prix: “Tomorrow’s weather is going to be an exciting enough race, hopefully, so I’ll just be focused on trying to get a good start.”

Overall, Lawson has found the move back to Racing Bulls to be a straightforward one.

“Honestly I just try to work with the team,” he said. “Obviously it’s been a big adjustment to come back and basically try to fit back in again.”

That being said, he also noted that “it’s been pretty smooth” and that the Racing Bulls team has “been very, very supportive.”

“It’s a team that I have a lot of very good memories with,” Lawson concluded.

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