It was announced this week that Yuki Tsunoda would be moved up to drive for Red Bull in the upcoming Japanese Grand Prix. While Liam Lawson played the role of Max Verstappen’s teammate for the first two race weekends of the season, he will be bumped down to drive the Racing Bulls car going forward.
Tsunoda has made his feelings public about wanting to drive for the most-winning team in Formula One this decade, and he’s now been given that chance. Red Bull has struggled to find a well-equipped teammate to race alongside Verstappen over the past few years, leading many to think the position is set up for failure or ‘cursed.’
Lawson wasn’t the first option for replacing Sergio Perez, Red Bull driver and Verstappen’s teammate from 2021-2024. However, with his strong performances after replacing Daniel Ricciardo in the Alpha Tauri car (now Racing Bulls) last season, he was eventually brought up to the main team for 2025.
It is important to note that Red Bull acts as the parent company/car for Racing Bulls. Drivers racing for the team are usually in the Red Bull driver program and have contracts controlled by Red Bull Racing, meaning they can be swapped around at any given point. Many see this as a competitive advantage for Red Bull Racing considering they are basically in charge of two out of the ten teams on the grid, yet the partnership continues.
Lawson was thought to finally be the right fit for a teammate of Verstappen, but it was quickly shown that his race performances weren’t up to the team’s standards. Lawson qualified 18th in the season opener in Australia and failed to finish the race after crashing on lap 47.
In China for the second race weekend of the year, Lawson qualified in dead last for the sprint race and started 19th. He was able to make up multiple spots during the sprint race and 14th, yet he was still massively behind in pace compared to Verstappen. For race qualifying, Lawson once again finished last.
During the full race, Lawson was able to find some pace in the car and had multiple overtakes, finishing 12th in what was his best performance of the season. Lawson officially finished 15th but moved up multiple spots after three drivers were disqualified after the race.
Despite that, Red Bull seemed to be frustrated enough with Lawson’s inability to match the pace of Verstappen, so they opted to swap him out for Tsunoda for the upcoming Japanese Grand Prix. With only two race weekends for the team, Lawson’s demotion is one of the quickest in F1 history, highlighting the savage nature of the sport.
Tsunoda made his entrance into F1 in 2021 with the then-called Alpha Tauri team (currently called Racing Bulls). His first two seasons saw him finish behind teammate Pierre Gasly, but he still put in some respectable performances.
Tsunoda had a total of three teammates in 2023, out-competing all of them and scoring for nearly 70% of the team’s points all year. He once again beat out Ricciardo and Lawson in 2024, but neither had the full season in the car, and each did have higher finishes than the Japanese driver on multiple occasions.
All of that being said, Tsunoda has spent more time on Alpha Tauri/Racing Bulls than any other driver. He’s proven to be loyal to Red Bull Racing, and has been pretty consistent in terms of qualifying and race ability. Those are key reasons why Red Bull chose to bring him up for the Japanese Grand Prix as someone who knows the team and can potentially better compete against Verstappen.
Tsunoda, as well as others around the paddock, has been vocal about putting him in the seat for the past few years. Despite that, these claims have seemed to go relatively unnoticed by the top decision-makers at Red Bull. Horner and Helmut Marko occasionally comment on his speed during a race or testing session, but it never seemed like he was their first choice to join the ‘A-Team.’ He has had a stellar start to the 2025 season, qualifying and finishing ahead of Lawson in each of the qualifying and race sessions this year.
While many fans and media members in the Formula One world like to call the role of driving alongside Verstappen as ‘cursed.’ However, all signs point to a different reason why they can’t match the four-time champions’ pace. Verstappen, along with all of the most successful drivers in the history of the sport, has a very distinct and on-the-edge style of driving.
Being that Formula One teams use two of the same cars between their two drivers, they’ve consistently designed a car that satisfies Verstappen’s racing habits. As each season goes on and Verstappen gets more comfortable with the car, it simultaneously makes it more difficult to drive for the team’s second driver. Nearly all of the modifications to the Red Bull car are meant to meet Verstappen’s driving style rather than his teammate’s.
The results of Ricciardo, Gasly, Alex Albon, Sergio Perez, and now Lawson all represent that Red Bull consistently puts the needs of Verstappen first. With the current setup of the team, it is the role of the second driver to adapt to what could be seen as ‘Verstappen’s car’ throughout each update package.
While it makes competing against Verstappen that much harder, it has been shown to weed out if a driver either lacks or possesses the ability to put Red Bull in championship contention.
“It has been difficult to see Liam struggle with the RB21 at the first two races and, as a result, we have collectively taken the decision to make an early switch,” Red Bull Racing CEO and team principal Christian Horner said. “We came into the 2025 season with two ambitions, to retain the World Drivers’ Championship and to reclaim the World Constructors’ title and this is a purely sporting decision.”
Though bringing in Tsunoda to Red Bull in what will be his home race could be seen as a PR move, it is no doubt to correct Lawson’s poor start to the season. Tsunoda has proven experience with the team and has been consistent that he believes he can get good results in the car. While Tsunoda will be the sixth teammate to drive alongside Verstappen at Red Bull, it will be quickly shown if the proper results are within his ability.
In line with how this whole scenario occurred, Red Bull has shown they aren’t afraid to give one driver the boot after just a few weeks in the car. If anybody inside the Red Bull Racing family is built for this task, it is Tsunoda, but that doesn’t count him out from the fate of the previous drivers in his position.
It is assumed Tsunoda will stay on as Red Bull’s second driver following the upcoming race in Japan. Lawson will go back to the team he raced with for a large stretch of last season, now paired up with rookie driver Isack Hadjar at Racing Bulls.
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