Last Updated on April 6 2025, 10:07 am
Red Bull Racing will be relieved after Max Verstappen’s win at the 2025 Japanese Formula One Grand Prix following a tumultuous two weeks for the team since China. Arriving in Suzuka, the team faced a media barrage following their decision to demote Liam Lawson and replace him with Yuki Tsunoda.
Dr. Helmut Marko had been doing the rounds of the European F1 media following the announcement, claiming the original decision to place Lawson in the seat vacated by Sergio Perez had been “unanimous” back in December.
As TJ13 reported last week, following the announcement of Lawson taking the second Red Bull seat Christian Horner actually said: “I think the feeling within the team is that the trajectory Liam is on has more potential, which is why we’ve taken that route. But 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.“
Marko denies blaming Horner
This is not the first time disagreements between Marko and Horner have found themselves into the public domain. Back in 2023, AlphaTauri recruited Nyck de Vries to fill the seat vacated by Pierre Gasly. Yet as the summer break approached, Dr. Marko was forced to admit he and the Red Bull boss had disagreed over Gasly’s replacement.
When asked by the Inside Line podcast about the decision to recruit the Dutch driver, the Red Bull consultant admitted it was one of the ‘rare’ occasions he and Horner disagreed: “He [Horner] was not a fan of De Vries. I would say at the moment it looks like he was right.”
The dramatic decision to ditch Liam Lawson after just two race weekends this year has created a number of questions with one being who makes the decisions over the four drivers who race for the two Red Bull teams?
It had been reported that Dr. Marko had partially addressed previous driver decisions claiming, “That wasn’t my decision, I didn’t choose Perez, Christian (Horner) did.” Austrian broadcaster ORF asked Marko about the matter in Suzuka, much to the Red Bull advisors disdain and he declared it “Absolute nonsense! Nobody even knows the journalist.”
Zak Brown admits undermining Red Bull
The curse of the second Red bull seat alongside Max Verstappen is one which Red Bull Racing have failed to solve since the departure of Daniel Ricciardo in 2018. McLaren’s CEO Zak Brown questioned the decision to promote Lawson following Yuki Tsunoda’s excellent P5 in qualifying down under in Melbourne.
“I think it’s going to be a very exciting year,” he told Sky F1. “Yuki did a great job, [he’s] probably the guy that should be in the Red Bull if you look at how he’s performed. But they seem to make some strange driver choices,” Brown quipped about his rivals.
The American admitted his comments were part of the F1 game which includes undermining opponents whenever possible. “Of course, our goal is to be as fast as possible ourselves,” he told TechStuff, “but there’s also the strategy of destabilising the opponent. If you can unsettle a rival, then it can slow them down while you pick up the pace.”
Whilst Red Bull’s shock decision to switch Lawson and Tsunoda hit the headlines prior to the Japanese Grand Prix, the on track performance of the pair appears to have justified the change after just one race weekend. Tsunoda who has had no pre-season tome in the car was quick to put it through his paces, finishing just a tenth of a second behind Verstappen in the first practice session on Friday.
Red Bull mess up Tsunoda qualifying
Again in the first qualifying session the gap between the Red Bull pair had closed to just under 2 1/100ths of a second before the strategy team made a strange call for Yuki in Q2. The Japanese driver was sent out for his first run on a set of used tyres, a strategy used by teams who believe their driver has a shot at pole position.
Yet hind sight would suggest Red Bull would have faired better had they merely ensured Tsunoda made it into the final part of qualifying, rather than saving new soft tyres which he was never to use. Having completed the first run in Q2, Tsunoda had one chance to make it into final qualifying, but a mistake and a gust of wind meant the driver was unable to maximise his opportunity and started the Grand Prix in P14, ironically one place behind Lawson who he’d replaced.
Verstappen went on to claim a highly surprising pole position, a lap which Fernando Alonso described as pure “magic. Only Max can do that,” eulogised the double world champion and the mistakes made by the McLaren pair to miss to was to prove to be crucial.
When asked about how he felt the decision to switch the drivers was going, Dr. Marko observed Tsunoda had made a mistake otherwise he would have been in Q3. “Yuki was only two tenths behind Max in practice,” he told F1.com. “We haven’t had that in a long time. It can now be understood why we swapped. We are completely satisfied,” Marko added.
McLaren strange observation about Red Bull
Verstappen blames RB21, not drivers
The combination of a repave of Suzuka which reduced tyre degradation, condemned the Grand Prix on Sunday to a one stop strategy choice. This together with the processional nature of the iconic circuit when the cars all have the same tyre offset meant whilst he was forced to push for much of the race flat out, there was never any real challenge against the Dutch driver from the McLaren pair.
A delighted quadruple champion was pleased with the result, which was his first pole to race win outing for some 20 F1 race weekends. Verstappen’s last pole was in Austria last year, where he and landowners Norris collided with the McLaren driver being forced to retire from the race.
Yet Verstappen remains unhappy with the RB21 having commented: “I have already said that our problem is not with the driver. It’s the car. The team decides who they put in the car, and I think that’s all fine, but we have to keep the focus on the problem, and that is the car.”
Flat out F1 racing, but processional
Speaking of his first victory of the year, Verstappen admitted the car had improved since last time out in China. “It was tough, just pushing very hard – especially on the second stint,” said Max after the chequered flag.
“The two McLarens were pushing me very hard, and it was a lot of fun out there. Not easy, of course, to manage the tyres, but I’m incredibly happy. It started off quite tough this weekend, but we didn’t give up. We kept improving the car and today it was in its best form. And of course, starting on pole, that really made it possible to win the race.”
Race fans often express their wish that the drivers be forced to push flat out when racing, rather than manage the tyres which often leads processional occasions. Yet all the drivers admitted this year in Suzuka was a push from start to finish but the top six finished in the order they started the race.
Ferrari frustrated with Hamilton poor show
McLaren ‘safe strategy’ lacks winning mentality
“Was that it? The highlights of the whole race?” This was the reaction of Oscar Piastri in the drivers cool down room when watching the very brief highlights of action during the 2025 Formula One Japanese Grand Prix. The promise of rain was not fulfilled and Max Verstappen led the field from start to finish to claim his first victory since Qatar last year.
The McLaren pairing came home line astern with Norris holding off a late charge from his team mate to claim second place and retain his lead in the drivers’ title race by one point from Max Verstappen and Lando leads his Aussie team mate by thirteen points.
Verstappen did smash a Suzuka record by being the first driver to win the race four consecutive times in the 35 runnings of the Japanese Grand Prix and his Grand Prix tally now stands at sixty four, some twenty seven behind Michael Schumacher and forty one behind Lewis Hamilton… READ MORE
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.
Zak Brown seems to be modelling himself on Toto Woolf. BIG mistake in my view. Whatever he says these days is ignored immediately … just as with TW