Liam Lawson is reportedly in danger of being dropped by Red Bull after two just race weekends with Yuki Tsunoda lined up to replace him at the Japanese Grand Prix, should the team’s bosses pull the trigger. The New Zealander was tipped as the answer to Red Bull’s second-car struggles after Sergio Perez was dropped at the end of the 2024 campaign, but Lawson has endured a miserable start to life with Christian Horner’s squad.
After suffering a Q1 exit and retiring from the Grand Prix in Melbourne, things got even worse in Shanghai. Lawson was knocked out in the first part of both sprint and full qualifying and was unable to make any progress on Sunday.
The 23-year-old finished the Chinese Grand Prix in 15th, while team-mate Max Verstappen extracted maximum performance from the RB21, finishing fourth on a tough weekend for the team.
According to a report from Motorsport.com, Red Bull have now held talks about swapping Lawson with Tsunoda for the Japanese driver’s home race at Suzuka in two weeks’ time.
Tsunoda’s form at the start of the 2025 campaign has been hard to ignore. The 24-year-old was only taken out of the points in Melbourne by a calamitous Racing Bulls strategy call and avenged his frustration with a sixth-placed finish in the sprint.
“Yuki is a different Yuki from the years before,” Helmut Marko said in Shanghai. “He is in the form of his life. Obviously, he changed his management. He has a different approach. He’s more mature. It took a while, but now it looks like it’s working”.
Horner was asked after the Grand Prix whether Lawson would be afforded time, but the team principal didn’t give anything away: “Well look, Formula One is a pressure business, isn’t it, and there is always time pressure. And he knows that. And hopefully, he’ll respond accordingly, and we’ll see where we go.”
If he is afforded another chance to drive the RB21, Lawson will take some comfort from returning to a track where he has raced often. The New Zealander drove in F1 at Suzuka and also experienced the legendary circuit during his stint in Super Formula.
