Red Bull are in chaos after a less-than-ideal start to the 2025 Formula 1 season, which has seen Liam Lawson lose his seat to Yuki Tsunoda ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix.
But the turmoil in Milton Keynes is not yet over, with Red Bull even now primed to endure a ‘massive’ exit before the Bahrain GP which follows F1’s visit to Suzuka. The Japanese GP and F1’s speedy return to Bahrain start the first triple-header of 2025 with the Saudi Arabian GP.
F1 only visited Sakhir in February for pre-season testing yet, two rounds of the season later, Tsunoda has replaced Lawson at Red Bull. The 23-year-old’s inability to adapt to the difficult RB21 convinced the team they must make an immediate change to improve their title hopes.
Lawson endured a miserable start to his Red Bull career after crashing on debut in Australia on slick tyres in the wet. The Kiwi was also slowest in both qualifying sessions in China, and Lawson was just P12 in the main race. Now, Tsunoda will step up from Racing Bulls in Japan.
Red Bull set for ‘massive’ staff exit with Honda engineers favouring Aston Martin switch
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has said Tsunoda’s promotion two events after they rejected him for Lawson came as the 24-year-old’s experience can help them to improve the RB21. Also, McLaren are already 42 points clear of Red Bull in the F1 constructors’ standings.
But the drama is not over as Marca now reports that Red Bull are facing a ‘massive’ staff exit with multiple Honda engineers primed to leave before the Bahrain GP. Many Honda staffers have turned down a chance to join Red Bull’s engine division and will move to Aston Martin.
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Aston Martin will become the works Honda engine team next season as Red Bull join forces with Ford to produce their power unit for the 2026 F1 engine regulations. And many Honda engineers have taken up an option to continue working with the Japanese automotive giant.
So, following next weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka – a circuit which Honda owns – many of the brand’s engineers will leave Red Bull. The staffers leaving Milton Keynes will go on a period of rest before beginning an intensive course of work in Japan from the summer.
Adrian Newey will be pleased with Honda staffers quitting Red Bull for Aston Martin
Many Honda engineers deciding to remain with the Japanese brand rather than possibly join Red Bull Powertrains will be a big blow to Red Bull Racing, as they start creating their first in-house engine for next season. Honda staffers leaving Red Bull will also please Adrian Newey.
Newey quit Red Bull to join Aston Martin and started working in Silverstone on March 3. F1’s 2026 regulations will largely be his key focus now, given the complexities of the engines with a 50-50 combustion-electric split and aerodynamic regulations devised to help the engines.
READ MORE: All to know about Aston Martin managing technical partner Adrian Newey
But the complexities of the engine rules have caused some teams issues, and HRC president Koji Watanabe recently suggested Honda are ‘struggling’ with developing their 2026 engine. It is also widely expected that Mercedes will have the best 2026 F1 engine like back in 2014.
So, Newey will be pleased to soon see engineers working on Honda’s current commitments working on Red Bull’s 2025 power unit start focusing on the engine Aston Martin will run in 2026. Red Bull will also hope losing many Honda staffers does not further hurt their season.
