Two races into the 2025 Formula One season and Red Bull appears to have already lost patience with its young driver Liam Lawson. According to multiple reports, the team plans to replace Lawson with Yuki Tsunoda, who races for their sister team Racing Bulls.
The switch is expected to take place before the Japanese Grand Prix, Tsunoda’s home race, which is scheduled to take place at the end of next week. Tsunoda will become the running mate of current world champion Max Verstappen while Lawson will take a seat with Racing Bulls alongside Isack Hadjar.
Tsunoda was in the mix to begin the season as a Red Bull driver, but the team opted for Lawson. They believed that the New Zealand driver had a higher ceiling despite his limited F1 experience. However, this decision backfired spectacularly.
Lawson qualified at No.18 at the Australian GP before crashing and failing to finish the race. He then came last in sprint and qualifiers for the Chinese GP, finishing the race at No.16. Meanwhile, Verstappen finished second and fourth, respectively, despite driving the same car.
Tsunoda made his F1 debut in 2021. His best performance came in 2024 when he was 12th at the end of the season. He failed to finish in points in the first two races of the 2025 season but was impressive at the Chinese GP sprint, finishing 6th.
