McLaren’s Zak Brown questions Red Bull’s choices: “Strange decisions” in driver line-up – With McLaren sitting at the top of both the Formula One Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships, team principal Zak Brown is not shying away from scrutinising his rivals. With Red Bull Racing facing unexpected struggles at the season opener, Brown has taken aim at the team’s driver choices, calling one of their latest decisions “strange”.
Brown’s comments come after Red Bull’s latest recruit, Liam Lawson, endured a difficult debut race at the Australian Grand Prix. While the young New Zealander was given the opportunity to partner Max Verstappen for the 2025 season, his performance in Melbourne did little to justify the decision in Brown’s eyes.
Meanwhile, Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda, who had been widely touted as a strong contender for the Red Bull seat, put in an impressive performance that further fuelled doubts about the team’s selection process.
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Lawson’s rocky start raises eyebrows
When reviewing the race results from the season opener in Melbourne, one name is conspicuously absent from the final standings: Liam Lawson. The Red Bull rookie’s debut ended in disappointment after he crashed out of the race with just eleven laps remaining.
Even before the race-ending incident, Lawson’s weekend had been underwhelming. He retired in Q1, unable to match the pace of his more experienced rivals. In contrast, Tsunoda – who drives for Red Bull’s sister team Racing Bulls – made an excellent start in fifth place.
The Japanese driver carried that momentum into the race, finishing in twelfth place after an impressive drive. While Tsunoda did not score points, his ability to extract performance from his car suggested he might have been a stronger choice for Red Bull’s second seat alongside Verstappen.
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Zak Brown takes aim at Red Bull’s driver selection
For Brown, Red Bull’s decision to promote Lawson over Tsunoda remains puzzling. Speaking to Sky Sports F1, the McLaren boss made his position clear:
“Yuki has done a great job. He’s the guy who should be in the Red Bull, given what he’s done,” said Brown, before adding a pointed remark about Red Bull’s driver management strategy. “But Red Bull seems to be making some strange driver decisions”, the statement a clear slamming of Lawson’s performance in Australia.
Brown’s comments hint at wider scepticism regarding Red Bull’s internal policies on driver selection. The team, known for its ruthless approach to promoting and demoting talent, has frequently come under scrutiny for its handling of young drivers. In recent years, their decisions have included controversial mid-season swaps and unexpected retirements. Brown’s comments suggest that Red Bull may have miscalculated once again in overlooking Tsunoda.
For McLaren, who celebrated a dominant performance from Lando Norris at the Australian Grand Prix, the situation only adds to the intrigue of the season. Brown believes the battle at the top of the grid is far from over.
“This is going to be a very exciting season,” he said confidently.
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Red Bull stand by Lawson despite early setback
Despite the outside criticism, Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner was quick to defend Lawson’s performance. Acknowledging that the Australian Grand Prix presented unique challenges, Horner remained supportive of the rookie’s abilities.
“It was a difficult weekend for him,” Horner admitted to Sky Sports F1. “We had to play around a lot with the car’s setup, and the rain during the race changed everything anyway.”
Horner insisted that while Lawson’s race ended in disappointment, there were positives to take away from the weekend.
“The positive thing we can take away is that his pace in the dry was really good,” Horner noted, suggesting that the team remains confident in Lawson’s long-term potential.
While Red Bull has faced criticism for its driver selection in the past, the team has consistently shown a willingness to stand by its young talent – at least in the short term. Whether Lawson can justify Red Bull’s faith in him in the coming races remains to be seen.
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The bigger picture: What does this mean for the season?
As the 2025 season unfolds, the battle between McLaren and Red Bull is shaping up to be one of the most exciting stories of the year. With McLaren leading the standings and Red Bull facing an internal investigation, the dynamics at the top of the grid are shifting.
For Tsunoda, who continues to impress with Racing Bulls, Brown’s support could provide further motivation to prove himself worthy of a future Red Bull promotion. For Lawson, the pressure is on to silence the doubters and deliver performances that justify his seat.
With several races still to come, one thing is certain: the debate over Red Bull’s driver choice is far from over.
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The first Formula One race weekend of the 2025 season is done and dusted and many of the tantalising questions from pre-season testing have been answered. McLaren are definitely the team to beat at this early stage of the year, while even a “horrible” Red Bull car is capable of extraordinary feats in the hands of max Verstappen.
Mercedes appears to have the edge over Ferrari, which will please Toto Wolff no end and his selection of junior driver Kimi Antonelli to replace the departing Lewis Hamilton now appears to be a masterstroke. Antonelli was the best of the rookies in Melbourne last weekend with a drive from P16 to finish less than two seconds behind his team mate in P4.
The young Italian made a daring overtake in the closing laps to pass Williams’ Alex Albon, something missed by the world feed live at the time. Only Oliver Bearman of the remaining first race of the season rookies managed to finish the rain affected race in Melbourne…. READ MORE ON THIS STORY
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Lawson doesn’t NEED to impress Brown. HE needs to worry about his own line-up, leaving others to take care of theirs. Ridiculous
Hilarious… Brown’s only reason for commenting is a transparent attempt to sow doubt, and rather embarrassing at that, when considering the facts of what actually happened in the race:
Yuki has a reputation for doing well in qualifying and tanking in the race… he qualified 5th and managed to turn that into “an impressive 12th”.
Similarly, Red Bull are supposed to feel huge regret that they didn’t put Sainz into the 2nd red bull seat… just a reminder, he crashed out in lap 1.
On a track where he was the only driver to have not raced before, in atrocious conditions, and despite his teams failure to give him a driveable car at several times during practice, limiting his track time even further, Lawson managed to set the second fastest race lap, beaten only by the driver in undisputedly the fastest car. His eventual crash was the result of what in hindsight was a strategic error.
And he goes to China equal on points to both of those aforementioned drivers.
I think the Lawson bashing has been a little premature.
Perhaps it will turn out that he is not good enough… but you’d be pretty foolish to conclude that after one terrible weekend.
Someone should remind Brown that people in glass houses should never throw stones. It wasn’t that long ago McLaren were struggling. Its the first race and plenty of teams had issues.