FIA steward Derek Warwick says Red Bull made “a mistake” by dropping Sergio Perez for the F1 2025 season, with Yuki Tsunoda having a “disaster” since replacing Liam Lawson.

And he has called for the likes of Christian Horner and Helmut Marko to confirm that Tsunoda’s seat is safe for the rest of the year amid rumours that Red Bull could be forced into another driver change.

Yuki Tsunoda ‘disaster’ shows Red Bull made a ‘mistake’ by dropping Sergio Perez

Perez vacated his Red Bull seat at the end of last season after a bruising 2024 campaign, with Lawson stepping up from the Racing Bulls team after just nine F1 appearances spread across 2023/24.

However, Lawson lasted just two race weekends as Verstappen’s team-mate with the New Zealander demoted after qualifying last for both the sprint and main race in China.

That saw Tsunoda secure a long-awaited shot with Red Bull, with the Japanese driver proving an instant upgrade on Lawson.

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However, Tsunoda’s resistance has faded over recent weeks following two Q1 exits in the last three races.

After a frightening crash in the early stages of qualifying at Imola last month, Tsunoda qualified slowest of all at the recent Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

With Red Bull’s highly successful partnership with Tsunoda’s long-term backers Honda concluding at the end of this year, it is thought highly unlikely that the 25-year-old will be retained for the F1 2026 season.

It remains to be seen whether Red Bull will make a second mid-season driver change, with Isack Hadjar emerging as a potential star at the Racing Bulls junior squad.

Warwick, who most recently served as an FIA steward at last month’s Miami Grand Prix, says Tsunoda’s woes suggest that Red Bull made a mistake by replacing Perez, who contributed to two consecutive Constructors’ title triumphs with the team across 2022/23.

Yet he has urged the team to throw their support around Tsunoda for the rest of the season to end speculation surrounding his immediate future.

He told a gambling service: “I think Red Bull needs to try and find a way of making that second car fast, because quite clearly driving the same car as Max does not work.

“They put every driver through there. We all know that Yuki’s quick, [but] he’s had a disaster.

“It almost shows that Perez was doing a better job than we gave him credit for.

“I think they need to come out now and say: Yuki’s in it [the seat] for the season.

“You don’t keep on saying we’re looking at other drivers and all that sort of stuff, because all that does is put pressure on their driver.

“And instead of driving with soft hands and a soft steering wheel, he ends up trying too hard, braking too late.

“I think they need to give that second driver, whoever it is, confidence that he’s in for the season.

“No question, I don’t care if he crashes every race, I don’t care if he’s lost every race, he’s in for the season.

“Was it a mistake letting Perez go? It looks like it.”

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Warwick’s comments come after Peter Bayer, the Racing Bulls chief executive, quipped that he will “handcuff” Hadjar to stop Red Bull promoting the French-Algerian rookie to the senior team.

Hadjar has made a fine impression in his debut season, scoring points in five of the nine races held to date.

He is currently on a streak of three consecutive points finishes, having recorded his best result of sixth – the best of the rest behind the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen’s Red Bull – in Monaco last month.

Bayer has urged Red Bull to resist the temptation to promote Hadjar until at least the end of the F1 2026 season, insisting that the 20-year-old needs time to grow.

According to Swiss-German publication Blick, Bayer said: “For heaven’s sake, don’t take this talent away from us too soon.

“He should get to know the whole business by the end of 2026.

“Until then, we’ll just have to handcuff him!”

Perez has been heavily linked with a return to Formula 1 over recent months, with the six-time race winner reportedly in talks with Alpine and the incoming Cadillac F1 team over a potential F1 2026 seat.

Reports around the time of the Miami Grand Prix claimed that Cadillac F1 were on the verge of securing Perez’s signature for next season.

However, PlanetF1.com has learned from sources close to the situation that no final driver decisions have been made at such an early stage of the current campaign.

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