Red Bull are set to replace Liam Lawson with Yuki Tsunoda after just two races of the Formula 1 season from next week’s Japanese Grand Prix.
Lawson will return to Racing Bulls – the company’s junior team – from the Suzuka race in a straight swap with Tsunoda after a difficult start at Red Bull as Max Verstappen’s team-mate.
Red Bull have not commented and no official announcement is expected on Wednesday.
The 23-year-old Lawson has endured a dismal start to 2025 so far, being knocked out at the first stage of all three qualifying sessions (including one in the Sprint format) and has struggled for race pace compared to Verstappen, scoring no points in Australia and China.
Tsunoda has been at the sister Red Bull-owned outfit since 2021 but did not get the nod to replace Sergio Perez, who was left without an F1 seat for 2025.
He will be the fifth team-mate for Verstappen since Daniel Ricciardo left at the end of 2018.
But while both Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon experienced brief and unsuccessful tenures next to Verstappen when young drivers after also being promoted through the Red Bull ranks, Lawson’s time at the senior team has proved to be astonishingly short.
Horner had notably refused to confirm following last Sunday’s Chinese GP that Lawson would still be in the car at the next race in Suzuka on April 4-6 after initial reports on Autosport that he might not. The first reports that Red Bull had duly decided to decided to make a change with Tsunoda emerged in the Dutch media, De Limburger followed by De Telegraaf.
Lawson in, Lawson out – What’s gone wrong so soon?
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Red Bull boss Christian Horner refused to be too critical of his driver Liam Lawson, despite him having finished last during qualifying for the Chinese GP
Lawson was promoted ahead of Tsunoda to the seat on December 19 as Red Bull moved to end Sergio Perez’s time at the team after the experienced Mexican’s sustained struggles in the seat despite giving him a two-year contract earlier in the year.
Whereas Tsunoda had just completed his fourth season at what is now Racing Bulls, Lawson had only driven in 11 grands prix for the outfit over the previous 15 months and been both outqualified and outscored by the Japanese driver during that time.
However, Red Bull were understood at the time to have given Lawson the seat because they viewed him as being better suited to the challenge of being Verstappen’s team-mate and, given his F1 inexperience relative in his handful of appearances at Racing Bulls, had run close to Tsunoda’s pace already and had a higher ceiling of performance to find.
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A frustrated Liam Lawson said he needs to get a handle on the Red Bull after finishing last in qualifying in Shanghai
But Lawson’s struggles with the RB21 during the first two race weekend have led to a sudden, and until last weekend unexpected, reappraisal of the situation with Tsunoda to now finally get his chance at the top team from Suzuka, his home race.
Speaking after Lawson qualified last and finished outside the points in both the Sprint and Grand Prix sessions in Shanghai, team principal Christian Horner said: “I think Liam still has got potential, we’re just not realising that at the moment. I think the problem for him is, he’s had a couple of really tough weekends, he’s got all the media on his back.
“The pressure just naturally grows in this business, and I feel very sorry for him. You can see it’s very tough on him at the moment.
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Liam Lawson apologises to his team after being knocked out of SQ1 and qualifying last for the Sprint at the Chinese Grand Prix
“He’s a young guy, we’ve got a duty to look after him and we’re going to do the best that we can to support him.
“Liam’s still a very capable driver. We know that, just for whatever reason, we’re not seeing him able to deliver that at the moment.”
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Karun Chandhok and Bernie Collins question why Red Bull did not follow a similar testing schedule to Mercedes and Kimi Antonelli when introducing Liam Lawson to the car
Tsunoda, meanwhile, has started his season strongly for Racing Bulls.
The 24-year-old qualified fifth and ninth in Australia and China respectively, scoring points with sixth in the latter event’s Sprint race. He would also likely have scored points in both the main grands prix so far too but for botched strategy calls by the team which dropped him down the order.
More to follow…
Formula 1 heads to the iconic Suzuka Circuit for the Japanese Grand Prix on April 4-6, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – No contract, cancel anytime
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