Yuki Tsunoda To Replace Liam Lawson At Red Bull?

Yuki Tsunoda 2025 Chinese Grand Prix

Liam Lawson 2025 Chinese Grand Prix

Pressure is increasing on new and current Red Bull driver Liam Lawson. The New Zealander has had a nightmare start to his career with Red Bull. There are reports and huge speculation that Racing Bulls driver Yuki Tsunoda is currently on course to replace Lawson for his home race in Japan in under two weeks.

Lawson got off to a poor start in Australia with a Q1 exit and a DNF. Many gave him the benefit of the doubt as the Red Bull car is known to be difficult to drive, and the conditions in Melbourne were difficult, to say the least. However, after P20 in sprint qualifying and P20 in race qualifying, and not finishing in any points positions, many believe that this is unacceptable and that Lawson is in over his head in that Red Bull seat alongside Verstappen.

Christian Horner stated that the Chinese GP was a “tough day at the office” for Lawson and that “there’s always going to be speculation in the paddock. As I say, we’ve only just finished the race here; we’ll take away the info and have a good look at it.” Horner is not giving anything away to the press on his decision to switch out Lawson, but the signs are there, and a certain VCARB driver is gunning for his seat.

Liam Lawson and Christian Horner. 2025 Red Bull Content Pool.

After Red Bull opted not to place Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull seat, you get a sense that Yuki Tsunoda might have felt a little overlooked and hard done by, and who can blame him?

Yuki Tsunoda has been putting in excellent performances for VCARB, as well as when they were known as Alpha Tauri for many years now. Tsunoda has also gotten the better of Liam Lawson this season as a rival but also in 2024 as a teammate after the departure of Daniel Ricciardo.

Mark Wessel - https://www.formula1points.com/head-to-head/

The stats show a clear domination across the board when discussing results in 2025, except the result in China as Lawson finished ahead of Tsunoda. If we take a look at their qualifying stats against each other as teammates we can see a very common theme.

Mark Wessel - https://www.formula1points.com/head-to-head/

Yuki Tsunoda out-qualified Lawson on every occasion for the six races they were teammates, showing that the Japanese driver has a clear pace advantage in similar machines.

So, what do we at DRFT think?

Tsunoda has shown that he more than deserves a shot at the second Red Bull seat. He has pace, aggression, and a willingness to win and he now has an abundance of experience under his belt as he has raced in F1 since 2021. Liam Lawson is a very talented young driver and his ceiling is very high, however, I can’t help but feel he has been shoved right into the deep end at Red Bull. To follow and improve on the horror show of Sergio Perez last season, the pressure has mounted on him and it may be a little too much, too soon for Lawson.

That being said, I still believe Liam Lawson has a very bright career ahead of him in Formula One, and a full season at a different team, perhaps not one currently battling for both championships would be a better move. A full year at VCARB the sister team of Red Bull might just be what he needs.

For Tsunoda, he deserves his chance, he has waited long enough and raced well enough to sit in that Red Bull seat. For Red Bull, a driver with more experience to get on with the high demands of that car and the eagerness to beat Max as a teammate is exactly what they are crying out for. Let’s hope if Yuki gets the chance, he takes it and doesn’t look back!

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