Sergio Perez believes Red Bull can still succeed in 2025 despite an early driver swap between Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda.
Red Bull’s 2025 campaign appeared to be in disarray after the first two races, in which Max Verstappen highlighted how difficult the RB21 is to drive and Lawson failed to make it out of Q1.
The team held a crisis meeting in Dubai in the aftermath of the Chinese Grand Prix, in which Red Bull’s Thai owners expressed concerns over Lawson and his performances.
A swap was made in the aftermath, with Lawson being demoted to Racing Bulls while Yuki Tsunoda will replace him at Red Bull from the Japanese Grand Prix onwards.
Lawson was drafted in to replace Sergio Perez, after the latter cost Red Bull a chance to defend their Constructors’ Championship in 2024. Discussing whether he thinks they will succeed with Tsunoda, Perez gives his verdict on their decision to swap drivers.
Sergio Perez thinks Red Bull can succeed with Yuki Tsunoda
The decision to swap Lawson and Tsunoda is a controversial one, but Red Bull justified it by saying they have ambitions of bringing the Constructors’ crown back to Milton Keynes.
Perez thinks they have made the right decision in the short term, given the experience Tsunoda can bring and help them fix their problems.
“I really want the team to do well, as I have a lot of friends at the team. I spent four years with them and I want to see them doing well. It’s just a very hard thing to talk about,” said Perez.
“Right now, I’m on the outside, I’ve been in touch with some team members there – but when you’re not there internally, it’s hard to know [what’s happening].
“For me, it was very simple, the car is just quite difficult to get 100% out of it, to get the confidence out of it – and the things I struggled with, even Adrian [Newey, the team’s former design chief] talked about them.
“But I want to wish them the best. Woody, who is a great friend of mine, is engineering Yuki now so I really hope they do well.
“Yuki has the talent, has the speed and, more than that, you need the mentality to cope with it. I think he has the right mentality and the right attitude to cope with it. I hope they will succeed.”
- READ MORE: Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda’s life outside F1 from height to parents
What has happened to Red Bull?
Much of Red Bull’s problems can be traced back to their form midway through 2024, when they identified a problem with their floor that was costing them lap time and brought rivals closer.
As they retraced their steps, rivals McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes slashed the advantage they had during the dominant 2023 season.
Red Bull thought they had found a solution to their current problems, but they have proven harder to fix because of their design philosophy.
The decision to focus on downforce at the expense of mechanical and aerodynamic efficiency has bite them back, and now they are faced with a car that is difficult to extract the maximum performance out of without being on the knife edge.
Lawson’s lack of experience did not help things and now Tsunoda, with his four seasons of experience, should help the team get back on track along with the feedback from Verstappen.
