Red Bull Racing have finally confirmed they will be ditching Liam Lawson who will return to the Racing Bulls while Yuki Tsunoda gets his shot alongside Max Verstappen. With the worst kept secret in Formula One finally out, the focus will shift towards Red Bull’s decision making process, because having to ‘sack’ a driver after just the first two racing weekends of the year, is almost without precedent.
It in fact has happened before, back in 1985 when Ferrari dismissed Rene Arnoux after just two race weekends. So how did Red Bull get to this point? Who made the decision to promote Lawson and not Tsunoda?
Given his role as the head of the Red Bull junior driver programme it would be difficult to believe Dr. Helmut Marko was not heavily involved. Although given this is a Red Bull driver recruitment debate, Christian Horner too would have significant sway, even more so than if it was merely a decision of a Racing Bull’s driver alone.
Marko favours Lawson
The clues to who was heavily in favour of Lawson being promoted ahead of Ysunoda can be found in media reports following Daniel Ricciardo’s sacking. Dr. Marko was cautious about the Japanese driver’s chances of replacing Perez. Of course Red Bull weren’t yet publicly admitting Perez was on his way out at the time, so the comparisons between Lawson and Tsunoda are somewhat coded at times.
“Let’s see,” said Marko in the paddock after the USGP, the first time Lawson and Tsunoda were paired for the weekend. Speaking of Yuki’s chances of potential promotion to Red Bull, Marko says, “but he has to improve his performance.” In the same media interview the 81 year old Austrian spoke highly of Liam Lawson describing him as a “man for the future” following his two point haul for the team, finishing ahead of his Japanese team mate.
Lawson’s star in the ascendency was knocked off course next tine out in Mexico, where he found himself ahead of a recovering Sergio Perez. Lawson made it difficult for the Red Bull driver to overtake his VCARB, the pair touched and Checo suffered damage. Lawson then flipped Checo the bird as he went by.
Liam was forced to apologise and whilst he appeared to blame Sergio for the on track silliness, the Kiwi accepted he was wrong to gesticulate. “I shouldn’t have done it, and I apologise for that,” Lawson admitted later.
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Tsunoda “too inconsistent”
Dr. Marko’s thoughts on the matter were as succinct as usual. “[It was] an unnecessary collision, where I see Lawson as being more to blame.” In terms of accepting it was good that the VCARB driver was proving a tough competitor Marko said: “If it had been someone else, yes. But not the sister team,”
Christian Horner was philosophic over the entire saga, playing down the matter whilst rueing the loss of points for Perez after the collision. With the Sergio Perez saga rolling on to the end of the season, neither Marko nor Horner would give a proper answer to the progress of Lawson and Tsunoda.
However, having made the decision to promote Lawson alongside Max for 2025, Dr. Marko revealed some of the considerations that went into the choice. “In terms of speed, Tsunoda is definitely the faster of the two at the moment,” Marko told Auto Motor und Sport.“But he lacks the necessary consistency and continues to make mistakes.”
The Austrian then said Red Bull were concerned Tsunoda “slows down and loses his composure” when he gets rattled. “His outbursts of anger have improved considerably but remain an issue,” said Marko. “He loses control.”
Horner says Red Bull “split decision”
Its interesting Marko’s reasoning behind the decision to promote Lawson was expressed in terms of negativity about Yuki Tsunoda’s candidacy rather than positivity over Lawson. Christian Horner on the other hand was vaguely more optimistic but retained the ‘mental toughness’ argument too.
“We felt that Liam’s trajectory, together with his mental strength and resilience, were the right assets to partner Max,” he said following the announcement in December. “Because arguably that seat is the toughest in Formula 1, going up against Verstappen, who is at the peak of his career.”
But, he added: “That doesn’t rule Yuki out in the future – it was a very split decision and Yuki certainly impressed the team when he tested in Abu Dhabi.”
Even in China, the Red Bull team boss was defending his young driver stating when the F1 circus arrives at tracks Liam has driven before, “he will thrive.” Well he never got to one, being dropped after just two race weekends.
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Marko says Lawson promotion was “unanimous”
Dr. Marko has of course added his two penneth on the decision to switch Lawson and Ysunoda. He began by explaining the decision to promote the New Zealander in the first place. “Yuki was too inconsistent. That’s why we unanimously decided on Lawson,” the Austrian told OE24. “But, under the increased pressure, he couldn’t deliver right from the first day in Australia.
“Then he went into a downward spiral. It’s like a battered boxer; it’s very difficult to get out of it. In that sense, it was a mistake,” Marko concludes.
So we have the team principal stating the choice over whether to promote Yuki or Liam was a “split decision”, whilst Dr. Marko claims after the event it was “unanimous.” So who is telling the truth?
Christian Horner made his comments at the time of the appointment of Lawson, but Marko’s claim is being made in the aftermath of a media bloodbath over the sacking of the Red Bull driver. Its possible that Marko would be happy for it to have been a unanimous decision, because then everyone involved made a “mistake” rather than just the man in charge of the Red Bull young driver programme.
Marko and Horner have yet to face the media in the spotlight of the paddock, and given the number of vitriolic reviews of the team’s treatment of Lawson, it won’t be a pretty affair. Clearly there are divisions within the Red Bull camp and any blame game over who is responsible for what is an early season debacle, could explode into more Red Bull Racing off track drama and headline news.
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Whist there has been no confirmation from the Red Bull Formula One team that Liams Lawson is to be dropped, the cat appears well and truly out of the bag. TJ13 broke the story in the UK following Dr. Marko briefing a close contact of the team’s plans before the next race in Japan.
The response to the news of the New Zealand drivers’ demotion to the Racing Bulls has been varied, but with most questioning the sanity of the decision making going on in Milton Keynes.
Red Bull are renown for ditching drivers mid-season, but after just two races in 2025 even by their standards this is a remarkable move. The team failed to prepare lawson properly as did Mercedes with Kimi Antonelli who racked up a reported 10,000km of testing last year in a previous Mercedes F1 car…. READ MORE
The Judge, a nom de plume of an experienced F1 journalist and site founder with long-standing sources across the paddock. With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
