Red Bull confirms the switch between Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson

It is official now: Red Bull just announced that Yuki Tsunoda will replace Liam Lawson for Red Bull team the remaining of the season, starting on the Japanese Grand Prix next week, becoming Max Verstappen's teammate. Lawson will join Isack Hadjar at Racing Bulls, the second team from the company. Talks about a quick and sudden replacement of Lawson began this week, and despite Team Principal Christian Horner saying that they have a duty to protect Lawson, it was clear that Lawson wasn't performing as needed for a team aspiring to the constructor's title and the driver's championship.

In the statement released on Thursday morning, Horner explained that they have two ambitions: to retain the World Drivers' Championship and to reclaim the World Constructors' title, so "this is a purely sporting decision". "It has been difficult to see Liam struggle with the RB21 at the first two races and as a result we have collectively taken the decision to make an early switch".

He also maintains that they have work to do with the RB21 car, which is causing trouble for Verstappen himself, and also believes that Liam will benefit from gaining experience at Racing Bulls.

It is shocking, but perhaps not too unexpected: nobody really understood why Horner chose to go with Lawson as a replacement for Sergio Pérez, fired after 2024 season: the 23-year-old New Zealander only sporadically raced in the 2023 and 2024 season as a reserve driver for Red Bull's second team, standing in for Daniel Ricciardo, while Tsunoda, 24, had much more experience as their main driver. As BBC pointed out, Tsunoda out-qualified Lawson four times to two in 2023 and seven times to two in 2024, and got a better result six times to four when they both raced together.