A Team in Crisis: Red Bull's Incredible Driver U-turn is a Complete Shambles

Rhonan Colquhoun 15:30pm 27th March 2025

THIS is an absolute PR disaster for Red Bull. How can one of Formula One's most successful teams be so incompetent?

Red Bull have confirmed this morning that Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson will be swapping places on the Formula One grid with Tsunoda being promoted to the senior team ahead of next weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.

After just two races, at two tracks he hadn't raced at before, Lawson will return to Racing Bulls after only being promoted to Red Bull in December to replace Sergio Perez.

Tsunoda will be Verstappen's third team-mate in just four races - dating back to the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Red Bull are known for making ruthless and brutal decisions - but this is next level.

The team have lost faith in Lawson but insist they have a "duty of care" with the driver swap made to "develop and protect" the New Zealander and that the decision is "purely sporting".

Incredibly, Red Bull have had to promote the driver they had no intention of ever promoting.

Tsunoda has been cast aside by Red Bull in the past but now has become their saving grace.

The Japanese driver had one of his best seasons last year and has continued to perform well across the two opening rounds of the 2025 Season in Australia and in China.

How did it come to this, and why did Red Bull let it?

This is a problem that dates back to mid-2022, that has been highlighted by their drivers, which is now fully in the spotlight.

Despite Max Verstappen romping towards a third consecutive title in 2022, in the other car, then team-mate Sergio Perez started to lose his way with the narrow driving window of the car.

This problem continued into 2023 with Perez starting the season strongly before his results started to drastically drop-off compared to Verstappen. However, this is where Verstappen also then started to report the same issue Perez had been dealing with.

Again, last season, Perez started the season strongly until there came several weekends where the Mexican was being knocked out of Q1 and unable to score points which amounted to Red Bull losing their lead in the Championship and having to settle for third behind McLaren and Ferrari.

Initially backing Perez to bounce back, Red Bull then decided to drop him despite the Mexican having a contract till 2026.

The team then opted to choose Lawson as his replacement for 2025.

Lawson, with only 11 Grand Prix starts to his name before the start of the season, was chosen over the more-experienced Yuki Tsunoda who has been at the Racing Bulls outfit since 2021.

Red Bull had the confidence that Lawson had a higher ceiling of potential and also had the mental strength to cope with difficult scenario's

While Lawson was potentially the quicker driver against Tsunoda over their short course of team-mates last season, his lack of experience was over-shadowed when chosen to become Verstappen's team-mate.

Lawson hadn't shied away from the fact that the results so far were nowhere near to what was expected - stating on Saturday during the Chinese Grand Prix weekend that he "didn't really have time" to turn his performance around.

Is it the right time for driver swap?

Red Bull have felt the need to take such drastic and quick action as they are not confident that Lawson would be able to turn the results around.

Despite not having the track experience in Australia and in China, Lawson has plenty of knowledge of the next triple-header set of races in Japan, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Many critics have suggested that Red Bull have acted too hastily and should have given Lawson more time. Then after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, if results hadn't improved for Lawson, then a swap should have been considered. Lawson has been ejected before he could prove what he could do with the current RB21 on tracks he knows.

A driver swap - performed by Red Bull - has generally taken place during the course of the Summer Break once half the season has been completed however, the move is unprecedented.

However, it is not a coincidence that Tsunoda has been promoted ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix - his, and Red Bull's engine supplier's Honda's, home race.

Once Honda had learnt that Red Bull were considering of swapping the drivers, the Japanese engine supplier has provided financial backing to support the move.

How will Tsunoda fare and what happens if he also fails?

Tsunoda now has a big opportunity, but a bigger challenge to go alongside it. Not only does he get to drive the car he's wanted to drive since his debut in 2021, but he now also gets to do it for the first time in front of his home crowd. Talk about pressure.

There are a couple of scenarios that could play out this weekend but surely if Tsunoda has the same struggles as Lawson, he'll be spared criticism for at least a few races considering he's not had any in time in the current RB21.

Red Bull are banking on Tsunoda's experience to help they develop the car. Team Principal and CEO, Christian Horner said: "Yuki's experience will prove highly beneficial in helping to develop the current car."

In Red Bull's statement, it says the "driver rotation" is a "purely sporting decision" but fails to confirm that Tsunoda will remain as Verstappen's team-mate for the rest of the season. Are we likely to see yet another swap of drivers?

Verstappen is reportedly unimpressed

One of only a few supporters coming out of the Red Bull camp was Four Time World Champion Verstappen.

The Dutchman is apparently unimpressed with the decision with Verstappen backing Lawson and instead blaming the car.

The RB21 is a difficult car - one that seemingly only Verstappen can tame. He lies second in the Championship behind McLaren's Lando Norris but has not been entirely comfortable with the car for some time.

Res Bull's sudden drop-off last year seen McLaren overtake them to win the Constructor's Championship and almost seen Verstappen lose his title - the Dutchman fighting desperately to cling onto a fourth crown despite a charge from Norris.

This isn't the first time Verstappen has backed the driver and blamed the car - he also supported Perez during his struggles and urged the team to listen to both of their concerns, not just his.

The team's star driver is not happy to have been ignored and feels that Red Bull have realised too late on that there are fundamental issues with the car.