Red Bull Racing has pulled the trigger on a major driver swap, announcing Yuki Tsunoda will replace Liam Lawson starting at the Japanese Grand Prix.
The move comes after Racing Bulls confirmed Lawson would take over Tsunoda’s seat for the remainder of the season.
GPBlog had revealed the switch was coming after the Chinese Grand Prix, and now both teams have made it official.
Red Bull’s statement highlighted their “unique position” with four seats across two teams, explaining this allows them to “exercise a driver rotation” that pairs Tsunoda with four-time world champion Max Verstappen.
## Horner: We needed to make a change
Team boss Christian Horner didn’t sugarcoat the situation.
“It has been difficult to see Liam struggle with the RB21 at the first two races and as a result, we’ve collectively taken the decision to make an early switch,” he said.
The motivation is clear – Red Bull wants both championships back.
“We came into the 2025 season with two ambitions, to retain the world drivers’ championship and reclaim the world constructors’ title and this is purely a sporting decision,” Horner explained.
He believes Tsunoda’s experience will help develop the current car, which clearly needs work.
For Lawson, Horner framed the move as protective: “We have a duty of care to protect and develop Liam and together, we see that after such a difficult start, it makes sense to act quickly so Liam can gain experience as he continues his F1 career at Racing Bulls, an environment and team he knows very well.”
Lawson’s Red Bull stint was troubled from day one. A mechanical issue robbed him of crucial pre-season testing time in Bahrain.
More problems followed in Australia where his practice running was cut short before a crash in terrible weather conditions ended his race weekend. To be fair, he wasn’t alone – several rookies, Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz all crashed in those same conditions.
China was the final straw. Lawson qualified dead last for the sprint race and couldn’t make up ground during the short event. He repeated the same qualifying performance for the main race, finishing behind Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar.
He only finished ahead of Tsunoda because the Japanese driver suffered a front wing failure.
Now Tsunoda gets a dream opportunity – racing a potentially podium-capable car at his home Grand Prix in Japan.
Sources indicate Honda has provided significant financial backing to make the switch happen.
