{"id":31929,"date":"2025-03-23T05:37:43","date_gmt":"2025-03-23T09:37:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=31929"},"modified":"2025-03-23T06:18:12","modified_gmt":"2025-03-23T10:18:12","slug":"yuki-tsunoda-could-replace-liam-lawson-at-the-japanese-gp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/23\/yuki-tsunoda-could-replace-liam-lawson-at-the-japanese-gp\/","title":{"rendered":"Yuki Tsunoda could replace Liam Lawson at the Japanese GP"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Red Bull are understood to be considering an immediate swap of <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/21\/tsunoda-has-made-quantum-leap-in-performance-says-marko\/\" target=\"_self\">Yuki Tsunoda<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/22\/f1-red-bull-considering-lawson-mid-season-swap\/\" target=\"_self\">Liam Lawson<\/a>. After another poor showing in China, Lawson&#8217;s position at Red Bull is hanging by a thread &#8211; and Tsunoda is ready to capitalise.<\/p>\n<p>After the Australian GP, Christian Horner and Helmut Marko downplayed Lawson&#8217;s struggles.<\/p>\n<p>They argued that limited track time and mixed conditions were the biggest influences on the Kiwi&#8217;s results.<\/p>\n<p>However, Lawson is very clearly struggling, crossing the Chinese GP in P15. Even after two rounds, the situation is becoming unsustainable for Red Bull, who could turn to Tsunoda for a promotion.<\/p>\n<h4>Tsunoda is desperately needed at Red Bull<\/h4>\n<p>After the Chinese GP, it seems safe to say that Red Bull have the fourth-fastest car.<\/p>\n<p>McLaren have established themselves as the fastest team, whilst <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/21\/leclerc-admits-to-being-a-step-back-from-hamilton-in-shanghai\/\" target=\"_self\">Ferrari<\/a> and Mercedes (especially in George Russell&#8217;s hands) have been regular challengers.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, after the first race weekends of 2025, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/22\/verstappen-lawson-would-be-faster-in-the-vcarb\/\" target=\"_self\">Max Verstappen<\/a> is somehow 2nd in the drivers standings.<\/p>\n<p>However, this is more a reflection of his own ability than the RB21&#8217;s performance.<\/p>\n<p>Red Bull need two competitive drivers if they have any chance to fight in the constructors.<\/p>\n<p>As it stands, Verstappen has carried them into 3rd place &#8211; just one point ahead of Ferrari.<\/p>\n<p>In many ways, the Dutchman&#8217;s brilliance should make life easier for Red Bull&#8217;s second driver.<\/p>\n<p>The Austrian outfit don&#8217;t need a second driver to finish on the podium or win races &#8211; just someone who can score regular points.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"-GUdkiTVRD9OYrA48gKcug\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2206322267\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'-GUdkiTVRD9OYrA48gKcug',sig:'X5a1ssczzqjulGXkBSm2-J6IwJ2Kk-TUj5gz7Rzurac=',w:'594px',h:'397px',items:'2206322267',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/22\/liam-lawson-under-pressure-after-poor-results-with-red-bull\/\" target=\"_self\">Liam Lawson<\/a> is showing no signs of doing this, finishing over 20 second behind Bearman in 10th at Shanghai.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, when he isn&#8217;t being compromised by poor strategy, Yuki Tsunoda is regularly in the top 10.<\/p>\n<p>There is no denying the VCARB 02 is a more stable car than Red Bull&#8217;s RB21.<\/p>\n<p>However, Christian Horner&#8217;s personnel are not willing to spend the next twelve months watching a Red Bull finish behind both VCARBs.<\/p>\n<h4>A swap for the next race likely<\/h4>\n<p>Prior to being awarded the Red Bull seat, Lawson showed immense confidence when speaking to the media.<\/p>\n<p>The 23-year-old stressed that there are no excuses for failing to perform at the main team.<\/p>\n<p>He made these comments with a clear belief in securing better results than his predecessor &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/12\/08\/why-replacing-sergio-perez-will-be-a-headache-for-red-bull\/\" target=\"_self\">Sergio Perez<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Although being confident is a requirement for any F1 driver worth their salt, Lawson&#8217;s comments have not aged well.<\/p>\n<p>Yuki Tsunoda was the faster driver when they were teammates at VCARB. It was the Kiwi&#8217;s potential (alongside Christian Horner&#8217;s reservations about Tsunoda) that gave Lawson the seat.<\/p>\n<p>However, it is increasingly clear that Lawson is out of his depth.<\/p>\n<p>Not only is Tsunoda the faster driver, but his experience gives him a better chance of adapting to the RB21.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"BuhYHAXaSSxznL2kP2kjQA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2206473551\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'BuhYHAXaSSxznL2kP2kjQA',sig:'qi8BaNjI6VsIPBXGRCGMvQXP0RlohpaVlaneorh0Okc=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2206473551',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsport.com\/f1\/news\/red-bull-swap-lawson-tsunoda-japanese-gp\/10706330\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">According to the latest reports<\/a>, Yuki Tsunoda could be in the Red Bull by the next race in Japan.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/22\/it-will-be-difficult-to-keep-verstappen-without-a-winning-car-marko\/\" target=\"_self\">Helmut Marko<\/a>, even in previous seasons, has been more complimentary of Tsunoda than Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.<\/p>\n<p>The 81-year-old appears to be pushing for the Japanese driver to be promoted. At this stage, Horner is likely to agree that a swap is necessary.<\/p>\n<p>They could postpone their decision and wait a few more rounds &#8211; but it is unlikely Lawson&#8217;s results will get any better.<\/p>\n<p>Red Bull cannot afford to have one of their drivers go pointless for another 5 rounds.<\/p>\n<p>A change is needed if they want two competitive drivers, and that change could be imminent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Red Bull are understood to be considering an immediate swap of Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson. After another poor showing in China, Lawson&#8217;s position at Red Bull is hanging by a thread &#8211; and Tsunoda is ready to capitalise. After the Australian GP, Christian Horner and Helmut Marko downplayed Lawson&#8217;s struggles. They argued that limited [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":31799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2452,2349,78,2394],"class_list":["post-31929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-lawson","tag-red-bull-racing","tag-tsunoda"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31929"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31942,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31929\/revisions\/31942"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}