Yuki Tsunoda ready to replace struggling Liam Lawson at Red Bull
Yuki Tsunoda has expressed his readiness to replace Liam Lawson at Red Bull, stating he feels "100%" prepared to step up if necessary, especially from the next round in Japan. Despite being teammates last year at Red Bull's junior team, Racing Bulls, management favored Lawson over Tsunoda when cutting Sergio Pérez during the offseason.
Lawson's initial performance for Red Bull has been underwhelming, failing to progress beyond Q1 in his first three qualifying attempts and finishing last in Saturday's Chinese Grand Prix qualifying. In stark contrast, Max Verstappen has consistently qualified in the top four, while Tsunoda's performance includes qualifying fifth in Australia, eighth for the sprint race in China, and ninth for Sunday's grand prix.
When asked about replacing Lawson, Tsunoda confidently said, "Yeah, why not. Always." Regarding a potential switch during the Japan round, he added, "In Japan? Yeah, 100%. I mean, the car is faster."
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko did not dismiss the idea of a mid-season driver swap, commenting, "Formula 1 is a competitive sport and ultimately that's what counts," and acknowledging Lawson's underperformance, "This is not what we expected, but we will discuss it calmly."
Lawson admitted his struggles, saying, "It's really tough, honestly. The window's really small, that's known, but honestly it's not an excuse. I've got to get a handle of it. It was a messy session and had we not dealt with traffic we might have been OK, but to be honest it's still not good enough. I just need to get a top of it."
He further reflected, "I think it's just time. Unfortunately, I don't really have time but it's just one of those things. You need 100% confidence in what you're doing and it's not that I don't feel confident, but at the moment the window is so small that you can miss it. It's that I need to get a handle of. It's just not good enough.”
As the competition intensifies, all eyes will be on Red Bull's next moves and whether Tsunoda will get his opportunity to step into Lawson's seat.
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