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-   -   F1: Yuki Tsunoda to replace Liam Lawson at Red Bull starting Japanese GP 2025! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/intl-motorsport/292570-f1-yuki-tsunoda-replace-liam-lawson-red-bull-starting-japanese-gp-2025-a.html)

Tsunoda to replace Lawson for the upcoming Japanese Grand Prix. Honda is also pulling their might (read: money) in getting the Japanese driver top spot for the home race; so that probably pushed the decision.

Should have been the default decision at the start of the year; I feel for Lawson in being thrown to the lion’ pit directly. Anyway, he can still make his case in the RB car going forward.


Source: link

I hope its a swap.
I can guarantee Lawson will do well in the Racing bull. The redbull has been built around Verstappen, and now tweaked so much that even he finds it a handful.
Tsunoda has the same issue as every other person in that 2nd seat, of being smooth, rather than having the sharper style that vertsappan demands and has got in the redbull. Would be a shame to see him getting flummoxed at his home GP.

That's what I said. Lawson knows the racing bull to an extent, and even with the time apart, the learning curve is way less steep than with the redbull. He will do well in the baby team, but tsunoda will have a mountain to climb in the parent!
In any case, redbull cant do any worse than they are doing as far as the 2nd seat is concerned.

On the contrary Tsunoda is doing very well with Racing bulls, Lawson will need time to get used to that car and so would Tsunoda. Red bull will just end up in a soup with this swap. Yuki should continue with Racing bulls for Japan. They can start the swap process but need to give time to both the drivers to get used to the new cars and should plan this 3-4 races down the lane.

Looks like the swap has finally happened.. Source BBC News

I can't figure out what Redbull were thinking when they make these driver decisions. First they sign Perez for 2 years only to drop him by paying cool money. And then instead of a relatively solid option of Tsunoda, they sign a complete rookie of Lawson to drop him after 2 races. Poor thing..

Why RB didn't sign Carlos is a mystery to me. Going by what was shown in the latest 'Drive to Survive' season, Sainz would certainly have accepted after being jettisoned by Ferrari?

Perhaps RB find themselves in the tough position of trying to find a driver fast enough to maintain their Constructor's fight, while not being competitive enough to disturb Verstappen's status in the team? Tough, if not impossible balancing act! This should be the year they lose both titles. To McLaren, going by the look of things.

And Ferrari! (slow clap) Found yet another way to lose points. How many more ways will they unearth this season?!

I think all the top teams, and especially Red Bull and even Mercedes (if you look at how Bottas was treated), have a clear no. 1 driver. And with someone like Max Verstappen as the team leader, who as the rumor mill suggests has multiple (RBR's) performance related clauses, every driver knows they will always play second fiddle. Everyone will remember how Perez fared - his performance can't all be just the driver, the car has to have had played a role.

Vettel, Ricciardo, Perez - they're all examples of how it is to not be the no. 1 driver at RBR.

I think Carlos knew this - and chose not to burn his hands again.

Ferrari is going to have an interesting time ahead: they made it amply evident that Leclerc is their golden boy (which is why Sainz left in the first place), and then went on to sign Hamilton - who is by far, the (second?) biggest attraction in F1. Wonder how Leclerc feels.

Another big mystery to me, why Leclerc remains at Ferrari. They have supported him and promoted him to the team at an early stage in his career, no doubt. But they have also done a lot to mess up his podium chances. And now with the Hamilton signing, there is even doubt about who is the no.1.

I guess both Ferrari and Leclerc know Hamilton is not a long-term prospect. He's in his 40s and this is probably a short-term 'superbrand' pairing with great financial returns for the team. Leclerc is clearly the future of the team. So he's probably content to wait it out.

And even after all the mess-ups, no titles for so many years, Ferrari is Ferrari! As a child, every driver would have wanted to drive for them.

It's official!

Yuki Tsunoda will replace Liam Lawson at Red Bull Racing from the Japanese GP, which is scheduled for 6-Apr.

Source

The keyword in this news article is from, not at, as was the speculation earlier. Very, very harsh on Lawson: not just the demotion to Red Bull's junior team, but so after just two races, and worse, after having been picked over his team mate at the team, Tsunoda. Lawson himself replaced Daniel Ricciardo mid-way through last year at RB Honda RBPT.

Suffice to say, Red Bull has messed this up spectacularly, learning nothing from how they managed the Perez fiasco.

Tsunoda to replace Lawson at Red Bull from Japanese GP as New Zealander drops down to Racing Bulls.

Desperate move, let's see what happens next, I hope this does not mess up Tsunoda home GP, he would hardly get time to get accustomed to a car built around max style of driving.

And what if Lawson now finish ahead of yuki in next two races, will they swap again. Should have given lawson some more time.

Horner and Marko are so callous with their young drivers. I haven't been following closely enough to know why I was greeted by a flood of F1 social media across Twitter and Reddit frothing at the mouth in anger at Liam (not quite sure what he did to earn the vitriol) but to bin a younger driver simply two races in. That'll do his confidence wonders. For all the production line that is their young driver programme, RBR really have a rather scattershot approach to managing the pipeline. Once they luck upon an elite driver like Seb or Max, they seem to get tunnel vision and treat the second seat as a distraction, shifting drivers between the senior team and Minardi at will.
If this goes on to blow up in Yuki's face (and I can only imagine the FIA fines that'll be incoming given Yuki's potty mouth), then the blame should squarely be at the door of Christian and Helmut.
On another note, interesting suggestion about Honda pushing to have Yuki in the RBR seat for the home GP. Could see that playing a factor but how much sway do they still have in the RBR structure given Honda aren't the factory engine supplier next year onwards (they're hitching their wagon with Aston Martin aren't they?)?

Going by the Netflix S7, he is the reason for two experienced drivers to not have seat this season. Namely Ricciardo and Perez , He was boasting / claiming to be better driver than them, and in first two races, he qualified and finished below than either of them. Hence the vitriol. Certainly it takes toll on his confidence, that's the life of an f1 driver, either you perform or perish.

Alright, I'll let you in on a huge peeve of mine. I hate how DTS is considered a reliable source for pit lane intrigue these days especially when pre-DTS fans, F1 stakeholders and the producers themselves admit/know the show plays fast and loose with facts to ensure they get the narrative they want to push. I might come across jaded (and I am. Again, tell me who is a long time F1 fan and isn't jaded) and clearly the sport counts as fans now an overwhelming new demographic who came to be thanks to the success of DTS. But I would rather we return to actual reporting to suss out these matters. I can't believe I'd be defending Fleet Street but I'd rather the source of the acrimony towards Lawson to be the result of reporting by someone whose job it is to do so.

Rant aside, fair enough. Sounds like he was a bit bullish about himself and that rubbed up fans the wrong way. I strongly suspect DTS made a meal out of those comments for extra effect.. Though I think it escaped no one that despite his appeal on a personality front, Ricciardo had long since faded as a driver and was simply holding a seat due to his name recognition. Similarly with Checo, sure he was struggling to adapt to the changes to the car made to suit Max more so (or more rather changes only Max was able to drive around), but he too looked both worn out from the constant undermining and just looked to have checked out towards the end. Neither Ricciardo or Perez were deserving of that seat. Checo should've been binned long before he got that 2 year extension and Ricciardo was clearly past it. Doesn't look to me like it's Lawson's fault there. Like I said before, following a logical progression in their driver pipeline, Horner and Marko should've promoted the next guy up in the sequence and that was Yuki. Fact they hadn't done so for so many years, keeping him in a weird limbo at Minardi is testament to their poor decision making. Can only imagine it seeming like purgatory to Yuki. At one point to me it seemed like they only kept him to flog that red bull owned tat, sorry apparel, they briefly had in major Asian markets.

Wow! I truly did not expect RedBull management to swallow their pride and bring Yuki to the team after just two races.

I have always felt that Yuki should have been chosen over Liam at the end of last season. But having made the choice to go with Liam, I wonder what they saw in his data that convinced them that he is not going to get up to the mark anytime soon.

Horner had mentioned after the China race that they had given Liam a new setup for the race. Maybe it was a setup that Liam had wanted, possibly something different than what Max is using. Liam did not have a good race, so maybe RedBull concluded that Liam's issues cannot be solved with setup changes!

Anyway, demoted after just two races - one of which was wet, and another a sprint - both at tracks where Liam had not raced before. That must be hard to take. Hopefully. Liam will show some of that mental resilience that was a reason RedBull gave to promote Liam over Yuki initially.

I thought it would be hard for anyone to do worse than Perez, but Liam somehow managed it. Hopefully, Yuki can do better.

Unless Horner gets his head sorted and puts it clear that the car will be developed so that both drivers can drive it, i don't think it matters who they put in the second seat.
Either that or they outright look only for someone who has similar driving style like Max to get both the cars to perform.