Christian Horner reveals that the decision on the Red Bull promotion from Liam Lawson over Yuki Tsunoda was a marginal call. The New Zealander joins world champion Max Verstappen for the 2025 campaign.
On Wednesday, Sergio Pérez and Red Bull announced that an agreement has been reached to terminate his contract, that ran through 2026. It was widely rumoured that this year would be the final year at the Austrian team for the Mexican. There was speculation that he could be replaced mid-season.
Liam Lawson, who has replaced Daniel Ricciardo at Racing Bulls from Singapore onwards, was rumoured to be the favourite to take over from Pérez. On Thursday, Red Bull confirmed Lawson to replace Perez and partner Verstappen following discussions with the shareholders.
The person who was left out in this is Yuki Tsunoda. The Japanese driver is backed by Honda and was also a favourite to get the seat. He impressed in the post-season tests at Abu Dhabi when driving the RB20, but ultimately wasn’t given the chance to race for Red Bull.
Horner: Lawson race pace was slightly better — qualifying against Tsunoda very tight
Following the announcement that Lawson gets the go-ahead, ESPN had a conversation with Christian Horner. The Red Bull team principal revealed that the potential from Lawson over the performance from Tsunoda played a huge part in the decision.
“It was very, very tight between the two of them,” Horner said. “I mean, Yuki is a very fast driver. He’s got three or four seasons of experience now. He did a very good job in the tyre test for us in Abu Dhabi where the engineers were impressed with how he performed.
“With Liam, when you look and go into the analytics of his race, pace was slightly better in the races that he did. His qualifying pace was very tight with Yuki, and you’ve got to assume that the potential with Liam having only done 11 Grands Prix, is he’s only going to get better and stronger. He’s shown real mental resilience and toughness.”
In the end, Tsunoda finished the 2024 season in P12 with 30 points scored, while Lawson has four points to his name in P21.
Lawson “got that kind of gritty racer mentality”
Horner continues to praise the new Red Bull Racing driver for “how versatile he is” and that he gets on with any situation he is put in.
“A couple of things have stood out with me with Liam — how versatile he is,” Horner said. “You put him into a situation, he gets on with it. If you remember his debut in Zandvoort after Daniel broke his fingers, he was racing against Max on his out lap.
“He’s got that kind of gritty racer mentality. He did a year in the DTM where he adjusted to driving a Ferrari GT car incredibly quickly alongside Alex Albon and generally had the upper hand. And again, his racecraft has been really one of his key strengths. So he’s not afraid to go wheel-to-wheel and even rub wheels where necessary. So I think he’s going to do a great job for us.
“The engineers have enjoyed working with him through the running that he’s done this year. He’s got a good work ethic as well. So it is great to have Yuki still involved with the Racing Bull scene next year. And of course he’s on standby should he ever be required.”
With Lawson now being at Red Bull, the path is paved for Isack Hadjar to join Racing Bulls in 2025. The 2024 Formula 2 runner up would join four other rookies on the grid. Confirmation is still pending.
