Liam Lawson has revealed that he was informed about his Red Bull demotion over a phone call after the Chinese Grand Prix. The New Zealander was replaced by junior Formula One team Racing Bulls driver Yuki Tsunoda, who will make his Red Bull debut this weekend in Japan.
The first two races of the 2025 season saw Lawson struggle with Red Bull’s RB21 F1 car. He suffered a DNF in Australia, while the following weekend in Shanghai saw him finish outside the points. As a result, Red Bull made a bold call to replace him with the Japanese driver.
Lawson will take Tsunoda’s seat at Racing Bulls from the race in Suzuka this weekend. Unfortunately, Lawson had already begun preparing for the Japanese Grand Prix when he was informed of his demotion on a phone call. He told the media:
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“It was, it was more of a done deal, I would say. I left China, starting preparations for Japan, and basically I had a phone call saying that this is what was gonna happen.”
Newsweek Sports reported earlier today that Lawson was caught off guard by the news, while Red Bull team principal Christian Horner admitted the team may have expected too much from Lawson too soon. He told Sky Sports F1:
“Of course, it’s horrible because you’re taking away someone’s dreams and aspirations, but sometimes you’ve got to be cruel to be kind, and I think that in this instance, this is not the end for Liam.
“I was very clear with him, is that it’s a sample of two races. I think that we’ve asked too much of you too soon.
“We have to accept, I think we were asking too much of him too soon. And so this is for him to, again, nurture that talent that we know that he has, back in the Racing Bulls seat, whilst giving Yuki the opportunity and looking to make use of the experience that he has.”
Red Bull has been struggling to make the RB21 more drivable. Horner admitted that the car needed work and maybe Tsunoda could bring his experience to turn things around. He added:
“We’ve got work to do with the car. We need to improve the car. We need to draw on the experience that Yuki has.
“And in the meantime, you (Lawson) need to go and rebuild yourself in the Racing Bulls, in an environment that you know and is perhaps slightly less pressured than Red Bull Racing.”
With Lawson being the latest driver on the list to have been affected by Red Bull’s challenger, it remains to be seen how well Tsunoda can adapt to the RB21 and the pressure at Red Bull.
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