Yuki Tsunoda replaces Liam Lawson at Red Bull

Red Bull have announced that Yuki Tsunoda will take Liam Lawson's seat at Red Bull Racing, with the New Zealander heading in the other direction to Visa Cash App Racing Bulls.

The switch means Tsunoda, whose career has been strongly backed by outgoing Red Bull engine partner Honda, will make a dream debut for the team at his home race, the Japanese Grand Prix.

Lawson, on the other hand, will revert back to Red Bull's sister team for the remainder of the season, having raced for Racing Bulls at the back end of the previous campaign.

The 23-year-old had been promoted to the Red Bull seat at the end of 2024 to replace Sergio Perez, whose contract was terminated prematurely off the back of his failure to deliver results.

Red Bull had shared their optimism that Lawson was the individual to support Max Verstappen and help them in their quest to retain the constructors' title, but those hopes have been extinguished just two races into the season.

Rumours of the extraordinary swap emanated in the aftermath of the Chinese Grand Prix as Lawson endured yet another difficult weekend where he failed to score points, compounding his DNF in the opening race at Albert Park.

Team bosses reportedly conducted a meeting on the matter on Monday and official confirmation of the swap was announced early on Thursday morning.

Lawson is not the first to be ruthlessly cast aside by Red Bull and he can take solace in the careers of Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon, who are both regular features on the Formula 1 grid.

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Jaquob Crooke

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