Red Bull “to compare Lawson and Tsunoda” ahead of 2025 verdict

After just over a year with VCARB, Daniel Ricciardo lost his place with the Faenza team to Liam Lawson. Much like the majority of 2024 so far, Red Bull will spend the remainder of the year assessing their driver options. According to Helmut Marko, Lawson will compete with Yuki Tsunoda to become Max Verstappen’s teammate next year.

Red Bull to compare Tsunoda, Lawson and Perez

On paper, Sergio Perez’s position at Red Bull is safe until the end of 2025. After all, a multi-year contract should silence speculation about the future. However, this is not the case for Red Bull.

The reigning Champions are renowned for mid-season driver swaps, with four drivers having taken the wheel at VCARB in the last twelve months.

Moreover, with Perez almost 200 points behind in the standings, it is unsurprising that Red Bull are still evaluating whether to replace him before next season.

Christian Horner recently confirmed that Lawson and Tsunoda’s performances in the remaining 6 rounds will be essential to the team’s 2025 plans.

In slightly more blunt fashion, senior advisor Helmut Marko explained that Red Bull’s junior drivers will be strongly considered for next year:

“Tsunoda is a candidate to drive alongside Max in 2025,” f1-insider.com.

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“The remaining races of this season will decide what our driver pairings will look like for next year.

“I can very well imagine that a [Red Bull] junior driver will drive alongside Max.

“We decided to compare Lawson and Tsunoda. They have the same material, the same conditions and each now has six races to prove that he is the better one.”

Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson both in contention

Inevitably, predicting the decision-making process at Red Bull is difficult. The ever-growing gap between Helmut Marko and Christian Horner makes it even trickier to anticipate the team’s next driver combination.

Still, there is no denying that the Milton Keynes squad are in a turbulent period.

As McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes continue to improve, selecting the strongest driver pairing is increasingly critical.

Red Bull have essentially abandoned their hopes of retaining the constructors’ title, with Helmut Marko signalling that defending the drivers’ title with Verstappen is now the priority.

Of course, this does not mean Red Bull plan on forfeiting the teams’ Championship forever. Almost 900 points have separated Verstappen and Perez since they became teammates in 2021 – which is no small deficit.

Therefore, team will spend the next 6 races determining if there is a better option to reinforce Verstappen moving forward.

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