Red Bull Racing didn't have the best start to the 2025 season, showing a level far removed from what they had at the end of last season in Formula 1. With Liam Lawson at the helm of the second car, rumors of a possible driver change exploded after the Chinese Grand Prix, just the second race of the year.
With Yuki Tsunoda as the main candidate to take his seat and Franco Colapinto on Racing Bulls' radar if the Japanese driver's move is confirmed, the situation in the Austrian team became even more tense after Lawson replied harshly to his former teammate, who had claimed that he would be faster in his place.
After his poor performance in Shanghai, where he qualified last and finished 12th following the disqualification of three drivers, the New Zealander replied: "I've raced against him for years, I raced him in lower categories and beat him, and I did it in F1 too, so he can say what he wants," he told Motorsport.
Lawson also acknowledged the urgency to improve his performance: "Unfortunately, I don't have time to get used to it, but I need to learn to handle it as soon as possible. I don't have time to test the car and get used to it, but we're already in the middle of the season, so we're losing points in every race. That's what I mean more or less when I say I don't have time," stated the newly 23-year-old driver.
A history that contradicts Lawson
While Lawson and Tsunoda have faced each other in several categories, the numbers don't reflect the dominance the New Zealander suggests. In the 2019 Euroformula Open, Lawson finished second and Tsunoda fourth. However, that same year, the Japanese driver beat him in the F3 Championship, which allowed him to move up to F2 in 2020.
