YUKI TSUNODA BREAKS SILENCE ON LIAM LAWSON PROMOTION AFTER RED BULL SNUB
Yuki Tsunoda has revealed that he was not “super angry” when Liam Lawson was promoted to a Red Bull seat having already “prepared” for being overlooked as Sergio Perez’s replacement.
Tsunoda enjoyed arguably his strongest season in F1 in 2024, claiming a total of nine points finishes to help the VCARB (now Racing Bulls) team to eighth place in the Constructors’ Championship.
Yuki Tsunoda ‘understands’ Red Bull’s Liam Lawson choice
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher and Sam Cooper
The Japanese driver’s season was rewarded with his first test for Red Bull’s senior team at the post-season test in Abu Dhabi, where Tsunoda took to the wheel of Max Verstappen’s title-winning RB20.
Despite emerging as Racing Bulls’ team leader, Tsunoda was overlooked by Red Bull after Perez vacated his seat in December with team-mate Lawson promoted as Verstappen’s new team-mate.
Lawson’s rise to the senior team comes after just 11 F1 starts across 2023/24, with Tsunoda preparing for his fifth full season with Racing Bulls in F1 2025.
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Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com at F1’s season-launch event in London on Tuesday, Tsunoda revealed that he “understands” Red Bull’s decision to pick Lawson as Perez’s replacement.
He said: “Last year’s things I [have] already kind of parked straight away from my head, to be honest.
“The moment they officially announced [Lawson’s promotion] I would say I didn’t actually feel super, super angry or disappointed at that point, to be honest.
“I don’t know. To be honest, maybe I was prepared inside of my head at some point. But in the end, whatever.
“Whether I go to Racing Bulls/VCARB or Red Bull, the things I have to do are the same. In both [teams], you can do pretty cool projects anyway.
“Maybe if I go to Red Bull, [being] team-mate [to] Max is not easy but at the same time it’s quick, cool things and you can prove yourself at a different stage.
“Even with VCARB, it’s different things that I’ve never probably experienced in a position [before], like leadership.
“I guess [these are] the things that I have to also at some point develop myself more.
“I think I’ve just got to stick to what I’m doing. I understand why they chose Liam. It is what it is, these are things I can’t control and I respect that.
“Definitely still high hopes for this season. I just keep focus on what I have to do, prove myself more that I [deserve to be in] Formula 1 just in general, I guess.”
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Tsunoda’s comments come after Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal, raised the prospect that the Japanese driver’s long-term future could lie away from the Red Bull family.
Speaking at the end of last year, Horner said: “We’re acutely aware that if we’re not able to provide an opportunity for Yuki – being, in all honesty, this year [2025] – does it make sense [to keep him]?”
“You can’t have a driver in the support team for five years. You can’t always be the bridesmaid.
“You’ve either got to let them go at that point or look at something different.”
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2025-02-18T16:05:53Z