Yuki Tsunoda will make his long-awaited Red Bull debut at the Japanese Grand Prix, replacing Liam Lawson after two races of the 2025 season.
Red Bull’s brutal decision-making has struck again and they will have a third driver in their second car over the last four races at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Tsunoda has earned his promotion after spending more than four years at Visa Cash App Racing Bulls and earning his junior stripes.
After a fast start to the 2025 Formula 1 campaign, he now receives the opportunity to try and crack the curse of the second seat. He won’t be expected to win the drivers’ championship.
Tsunoda has received a ‘very direct’ warning from Christian Horner ahead of stepping up to the big team. There is a hierarchy at Red Bull.
One man who knows a lot about that is one of their ex-employees and 2024 driver, Sergio Perez who has backed Tsunoda to succeed at Red Bull.
READ MORE: Yuki Tsunoda could adapt at Red Bull faster than Lewis Hamilton has at Ferrari for one crucial reason
Liam Lawson kept ‘ringing’ Red Bull about 2025 F1 seat while Yuki Tsunoda didn’t
Helmut Marko was surprised how below expectations Lawson fell and thought that the 23-year-old would be able to manage higher than 18th in three qualifying sessions.
He had worked especially hard to earn an opening at the top, only for everything to fall apart so quickly when he arrived there. He left the team without managing one single point.
Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, Tom Clarkson revealed that in order to get the opportunity in the first place, Lawson did one thing Tsunoda didn’t for the second half of 2024.
“Liam Lawson told us on Beyond the Grid a few weeks back, that he was ringing Helmut Marko and Christian Horner the whole time,” he said.
“He was in their ear for the second half of last year, saying ‘Give me the chance, give me the chance.’ Yuki Tsunoda wasn’t, he was relying on his manager Mario Miyakawa to do that and I think Miyakawa didn’t do that, which is why Tsunoda has now swapped management.”
READ MORE: Yuki Tsunoda just dealt Liam Lawson a bitter blow after latest Red Bull simulator comments
Why Liam Lawson has left Yuki Tsunoda a ‘quite easy’ job at Red Bull in 2025
Now that multiple drivers have been sifted through the second Red Bull seat, it’s pretty apparent that the car rather than the drivers are the issue. Only Verstappen can tame their machine.
It’s something major that will need to be fixed for the 2026 F1 regulations and beyond, otherwise they will never be in contention for the constructors’ championship again.
The bonus of the situation, for now, is that Lawson has left Tsunoda a ‘quite easy’ Red Bull situation. Nobody expects him to do well.
If he does, it’ll do his reputation a lot of good. He will also give himself a better opportunity for success in the future. Rival teams may come calling for next year.
His contract expires at the end of 2025 and so too does Honda’s commitment to Red Bull. Don’t be surprised to see a switch to somewhere like Aston Martin on the horizon.
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