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Red Bull are set to replace Liam Lawson with Yuki Tsunoda after just two races of the Formula One season. Tsunoda would join forces with Max Verstappen next week for the Japan Grand Prix, which will be his home GP. Lawson on the other hand would likely return to the Racing Bulls feeder team. The move has come in the wake of Lawson's below-par performances in Australia and China.
Lawson was promoted from Racing Bulls to replace Mexican driver Sergio Pérez, but this was as far as he could go. The 23-year-old New Zealander was with Tsunoda in Red Bull’s feeder team for six races last season, after being drafted in as a replacement for Daniel Ricciardo.
Lawson was preferred over Tsunoda in Red Bull's second seed, With him finishing eighth in the drivers world championship and eventually departing, Tsunoda is back in the fray. While Verstappen is second in the 2025 standings, eight points behind McLaren’s Lando Norris, Lawson has failed to score a point in Melbourne or Shanghai.
Red Bull's Liam Lawson is facing a tough start, but team principal Christian Horner has pledged support, whereas Japan's Yuki Tsunoda has made a stronger beginning, earning three points with a sixth-place finish in the Shanghai sprint.
Red Bull has a pattern of rotating Verstappen’s teammates, yet the four-time world champion remains the undisputed top driver at a team that saw McLaren snatch the constructors’ title from them last year.
Verstappen has admitted the current car poses a challenge to handle, a sentiment echoed by Lawson in Shanghai, where he noted difficulties in extracting performance from it. That challenge now seems poised to fall to Tsunoda at Suzuka, while Lawson is expected to shift back to Racing Bulls, joining rookie Isack Hadjar, who outpaced him by one position, finishing 11th at the Chinese Grand Prix.
