Alex Albon: 26 races, Daniil Kvyat: 21 rounds (and dropped three races into his second season), Pierre Gasly: 12 races. Liam Lawson has now broken the dreaded record of quickest demotion from Red Bull Racing's cursed second seat — but was it a fair decision?
After a brutal start to his time going up against four-time champion Max Verstappen, Red Bull has officially swapped Yuki Tsunoda to Red Bull and Lawson to Racing Bulls for the Japanese Grand Prix.
Announcing that @yukitsunoda07 will partner Max from the #JapaneseGP 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/Pz05P7cFKF
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) March 27, 2025
The unprecedentedly quick demotion followed just two race weekends (two grand prix and a sprint) where Lawson qualified 18th, 20th and 20th, and finished with zero points. Lawson made concerning admissions over the radio during his short time with Red Bull, including, "I can’t turn the car at all" and "balance was good for one lap, and then it’s just, no fronts, and then I can’t get on power."
Lawson told Sky Sports during the weekend in China that he needed more time to improve his form, but admitted he didn't really have that luxury. And now — he officially is out of time.
The swap sets up the opportunity for an incredible storyline for Tsunoda if he can pull of what so many Red Bull second drivers couldn't. Tsunoda who has been passed over for the promotion multiple times, but has delivered some good results above the Racing Bulls' expectations. He now returns home to Japan for his debut with Red Bull. One would think just putting it in the points will be a happy homecoming.
But at this point, it seems like no one can handle this car. No one has shown the prowess to pull it off since we saw little flashes of it from Sergio Perez in his early tenure with the team, or before that, Daniel Ricciardo. And one could make the argument that Ricciardo was with the team before Verstappen took the reigns for how he wanted to car to be designed.
This isn't rumor at this point, Verstappen himself said the Racing Bulls car would be easier to drive, even saying that Lawson would provide better results at the B team.
So what happens if Tsunoda also struggles? Will they switch them back? It feels like after a certain amount of failed experiments, the team might have to look in the mirror and decide one of two things: They basically have to admit this is the Verstappen show as long as he is on the team, or they have to try something different going forward with a new car in 2026.
The jokes about the seat being "cursed" have gone on for years, but the conversation might flip from thoughts about how hard it is to drive against the four-time champ, to it is actually not particularly possible to go up against him in this type of car.
If this doesn't work out for Tsunoda, and the team doesn't realize they have to do something different, it'll just be a line of hopeful drivers coming in with the hope that they can break the mold, only to be completely broken within two weeks.
Or it's that Looney Tunes clip where the baseball team just keeps hitting a home run over and over again in an endless line, and the drivers are the pitcher. Take your pick.