Yuki Tsunoda will officially join Red Bull Racing ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, Tsunoda’s home race, replacing Liam Lawson after just two Grands Prix with Red Bull.
Tsunoda joins the Milton Keynes based team that have won six Constructors’ World Championships during their 20 years within the sport. The 24-year old first joined Formula One back in 2021, driving for Alphatauri (now Racing Bulls). Tsunoda immediately impressed many people, scoring a career-best result at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, finishing in 4th position to round out his rookie season. This career-best result also included overtaking Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas on the final lap of the race, with Tsunoda proving that not only could he provide strong results, he was capable of wheel-to-wheel duels against some of F1’s most talented drivers on the grid.
Despite a somewhat subdued few years with the RB team, never quite able to reach a better result than fourth place, Tsunoda continued to bank decent hauls of points, scoring 30 points for RB in 2024, carrying them into 8th place of the overall standings. The Japanese driver has been RB’s main points scorer since 2022, and has frequently beaten teammates Nyck De Vries, Daniel Ricciardo and Liam Lawson.
Lawson initially impressed many people in the F1 Paddock after just 11 races, scoring six points for RB across 2023 and 2024, standing in for Ricciardo in the back half of 2023. Despite not completing even a full season in F1, Red Bull Racing decided that the New Zealander was the prime candidate to partner reigning champion Max Verstappen. However after just two races, that decision was ridiculed by many people both in and outside of the F1 paddock.
After a bitterly disappointing debut race for Red Bull, Lawson appeared to acknowledge that a major change in trajectory was needed for the Chinese Grand Prix. Unfortunately, Lawson would qualify in last place for both the Sprint Race and Grand Prix, seemingly struggling with the Red Bull greatly, being incredibly tentative through various corners, and lacking the ferocity when driving that teammate Verstappen has when attacking each corner of every circuit.
It has been widely reported that Verstappen favours a much more sensitive setup compared to many other drivers on the grid, something that Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly, Sergio Perez and now Liam Lawson, have all struggled with.
In an attempt not to crash, Lawson’s setup for the Chinese Grand Prix appeared to be slightly easier to drive, although subsequently much slower than that of his teammate Verstappen. The four-time World Champion would go on to say: “I think if you put Liam in the Racing Bulls car, he will go faster. I really think so. That car is easier to drive than ours. I also notice that when I talk to Liam. Last year, I didn’t think the difference between him and Yuki Tsunoda was that big. Otherwise the team wouldn’t make the choice to put him in at Red Bull either.”
Red Bull Team Principal, Christian Horner, would go on to agree with Verstappen’s statement, saying: “I think the Racing Bull is a more settled car in terms of it probably is a little more stable on entry. It probably has a bit more understeer in that car and therefore is easier to adapt to but you can see the difference in pace in the cars on a longer stint. But I think in terms of finding the limit in a car that has inherent understeer, it is always going to be easier than finding the limit in a car that is a little more edgy.”
Lawson seemingly also hadn’t quite helped his reputation in the eyes of many, particularly on social media, with many mocking Lawson’s quote at the end of 2024 when he stated: “I’m not here to make friends” following an incident with Sergio Perez late last season. Lawson would also have a run-in with two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso as well at the end of last season, therefore developing somewhat more uncomfortable relationships with a couple of the more experienced drivers on the grid, both of which with a large fanbase as well.
With the ridicule of people on social media, as well as Horner and Verstappen saying that he might be more suited to the RB car, evidently the pressure was starting to get to Lawson, who had been promoted to a championship-winning team after less than half a season of racing split across two seasons.
Whilst Lawson hadn’t helped himself in the eyes of many Spanish-speaking fans, some have been quick to defend the 23-year old, saying that being removed from Red Bull after just two races in the RB21 was unwarranted as he wasn’t given anywhere near enough time.
Whilst Tsunoda joins Red Bull with much excitement, many have called into question Red Bull’s management style, with several drivers over the last decade being removed from both the main team and the sister Racing Bulls squad as well, all struggling to adapt to the sensitive car that Red Bull seem to have.
Tsunoda will therefore join the Red Bull Racing team at his home race in Japan and make his Red Bull debut at the Suzuka circuit, a track where he has scored points at before during his time with RB.
Liam Lawson will return to Racing Bulls alongside Isack Hadjar for the remainder of the 2025 season.
Featured Image: Red Bull Content Pool
