Red Bull set to replace Lawson with Tsunoda ahead of Japanese GP

Rhonan Colquhoun 1:11am 27th March 2025

RED BULL are reportedly to axe Liam Lawson after only two races and promote Yuki Tsunoda to the senior team ahead of next weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.

The ruthless decision, which is supposed to be confirmed in the next few days, has been discussed at length with Red Bull Management with rumours emerging from the Formula One Paddock as early as last Sunday as the chequered flag fell at the Chinese Grand Prix.

With only 11 Grand Prix starts to his name before the start of the season, Lawson is set to move back to Racing Bulls after being promoted to Red Bull to replace Sergio Perez for this season.

BRUTAL: Time has not been on Lawson's side and despite Verstappen's vote of confidence, Red Bull seem to have made up their mind

Lawson was chosen over more-experienced team-mate Yuki Tsunoda with Red Bull expressing their faith in the New Zealander to have the right mentality and headset in order to cope with being Max Verstappen's team-mate and have the ability to drive the RB21 which has a difficult driving window.

However, Lawson has endured a horrible start to the season which has fuelled speculation that he would be replaced.

The start of the the 2025 Formula One calendar hasn't been in Lawson's favour with the season kicking off in Australia and in China - two tracks that the New Zealander hasn't raced at before.

To add to this track in-experience, the Chinese Grand Prix weekend was the sport's first Sprint event of the season with only one Practice session before.

Lawson struggled and ended up qualifying last for both the Sprint Qualifying at the main Qualifying. Set-up changes for the second week in a row meant that he started from the pit-lane and finished 15th - which became 12th after the post-race penalties.

The expected move comes sooner than expected with early reports suggesting that if there wasn't an improvement after the Japanese Grand Prix - a venue in which Lawson has raced at before multiple times - then there would be changes.

Pushing for the driver swap to take place so urgently was Red Bull's engine supplier Honda. Once the Japanese engine manufacturer knew the team were considering a change in their line-up, their support has been deciding factor.

Honda, who have been Tsunoda's primarily supporter and help fund the Japanese' drivers' seat at Racing Bulls until last year, have made financial backing to contribute to the driver swap.

However, replacing Lawson with Tsunoda may not solve Red Bull's issue. There is massive uncertainty that Tsunoda won't be able to perform any better than Lawson is doing at the moment.

SINK OR SWIM: Tsunoda faces his biggest challenge so far in Formula One if he is promoted to the senior team

Tsunoda, who has been overlooked, downplayed and mocked by Red Bull in the past, has now became their saving grace.

If Tsunoda doesn't perform in the RB21 as expected - will Red Bull let him go at the end of the season?

With Honda departing the team to partner Aston Martin next year, Tsunoda loses his backing and will have to find another vacancy on the F1 grid as there's no way Red Bull will let him go back to Racing Bulls.

In front of his home fans - and in the car he's wanted to prove himself in - this will either be make or break for Tsunoda.