Red Bull Racing has decided to swap out Liam Lawson as Max Verstappen‘s teammate ahead of the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, according to numerous reports.
The shock decision would come just two races in for Lawson after he was chosen ahead of Tsunoda for the 2025 season.
The Kiwi has admittedly had a rocky start to the season thus far. Earlier this month, he crashed out of his Red Bull debut in Melbourne and more recently, he was slowest in both qualifying sessions in Shanghai and recovered only to 15th in the grand prix.
Lawson was elevated to 12th after Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly were all disqualified, as reported by Wide World of News.
A number of publications have reported Lawson will be demoted to the junior Racing Bulls team, with Yuki Tsunoda to take his place in his home race at next weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.
There has been no official confirmation about the news from Red Bull at the time of writing. An announcement is expected later this week, various outlets have reported.
Earlier this week, team principal Christian Horner noted Lawson’s had a “tough couple of races” and said there’s “always going to be speculation in the paddock” with regards to rumours of axing the 23-year-old.
“Look, I think everything is purely speculative at the moment. As I say, we’ve just finished this race, we’re going to take away the info and have a good look at it,” he said, per Formula1.com.
“I think Liam still has got potential, we’re just not realising that at the moment. I think the problem for him is he’s had a couple of really tough weekends and he’s got all the media on his back. The pressure just naturally grows in this business.”
Speaking to Sky Sports Germany, former driver Ralf Schumacher indicated the decision has already been made, citing a source within the team. He also suggested senior advisor Helmut Marko — who has been advising Red Bull Racing and its related teams since 2005 — would prefer to make the switch “relatively quickly”.
However, Schumacher urged the squad to stick with Lawson and urged the team to instead focus on “making the car better”.
“You have to bear in mind that Red Bull is anything but good at the moment,” he said, as reported by Wide World of News.
“When you come in as a young new driver and then have to race against the best driver of the current era, who has spent years developing the car around him, no matter who I put next to him, he will be sent home within a few races.
“I would recommend leaving it as it is and making the car better.”
The off-season promotion of Lawson was previously viewed as a surprise, given 24-year-old Tsunoda had served a four-year apprenticeship at the junior team. F1 writer Daniel Valente also questioned the move, tweeting on Wednesday (local time) that this whole saga “has looked worse on the decision making than it has Lawson”.
Meanwhile Tsunoda has also indicated he would be happy to take Lawson’s seat if the opportunity rose.
“Yeah, why not? Always,” he told reporters in the media paddock behind pit lane on Saturday, per Fox Sports.
The publication also noted the decision to swap out Lawson would be “one of the most savage axings in F1 history”, pointing out the team allowed Sergio Perez to see out the season last year.
Lead image: Getty
