Japanese pilot Yuki Tsunoda will replace New Zealander Liam Lawson at Red Bull from the Japan GP next week, and will be a partner of the current four-time world champion Max Verstappen, the team announced Thursday (27).
“After a difficult start to the season,” Red Bull said, 23 -year -old Liam Lawson, leaves the team after just two races and will take the place of 24 -year -old Tsunoda at Racing Bulls from April 6 in Suzuka.
“It was hard to see Liam having problems with the [carro] RB21 in the first two races and we collectively made the decision to make an early change, “explained Christian Horner, director of Red Bull.
Hired by Red Bull to replace Mexican Sergio Pérez, Lawson thus pays for bad results in Australia (track exit) and China (12th). The New Zealand will continue his career at Racing Bulls, a subsidiary team.
Already Tsunoda will be promoted, becoming, before his fans, the new partner of Max Verstappen, who seems to have not enjoyed the change very much. He enjoyed an Instagram post by former driver Giedo Van der Garde, who classified the decision as hasty and harmful to Lawson’s career.
More experience
“We approached the 2025 season with two ambitions: keeping the title of pilots and regaining the title of builders. So it’s a purely sports decision,” Horner added.
Lawson had already played 11 races between 2023 and 2024 by Alphatauri and later by Racing Bulls, the new name of the Red Bull -associated team. He reached three ninth places as his best result.
Tsunoda has more experience at F1: he played 89 races since his debut in 2021. His best result was fourth place in Abu Dhabi that year.
“There is a lot of work to be done with RB21 and Yuki’s experience will be very positive to help develop the current car,” Horner emphasized.
At just 1.59 m tall, Tsunoda is the first Japanese pilot at F1 since Kamui Kobayashi in 2014.
Coming from Red Bull’s subsidiary, whose engines is Japanese Honda, Tsunoda will debut on the first team and will have the opportunity to fight for the podiums alongside the current F1 dominator, Max Verstappen.
The decision of Red Bull of replacing Lawson had been announced by various media this week, including the Dutchman of Telegraf, who said she was taken after a meeting on Tuesday in Dubai (United Arab Emirates), where the team’s main shareholder Chalerm Yoovidhya resides.
After two consecutive tests in Melbourne and Shanghai to open the 2025 World Cup, F1 pause this weekend before landing in Suzuka for the Japan GP.
