Yuki Tsunoda (left) will change Liam Lawson driving for Crimson Bull. – Mark Thompson/Getty Pictures
Crimson Bull introduced on Thursday it’s shifting its rotation round simply two races into the brand new season.
In a , the staff introduced that Yuki Tsunoda will change Liam Lawson as Max Verstappen’s teammate within the Crimson Bull vehicles.
The 2 drivers will swap roles, with Lawson taking Tsunoda’s place within the Racing Bulls automotive – Racing Bulls is Crimson Bull’s developmental staff.
“It has been tough to see Liam wrestle with the RB21 on the first two races and because of this now we have collectively taken the choice to make an early change,” Crimson Bull staff principal and CEO Christian Horner mentioned in a press release. “We got here into the 2025 season, with two ambitions, to retain the World Drivers’ Championship and to reclaim the World Constructors’ title and it is a purely sporting choice.
Commercial
“We acknowledge there may be a number of work to be accomplished with the RB21 and Yuki’s expertise will show extremely helpful in serving to to develop the present automotive. We welcome him to the Staff and are trying ahead to seeing him behind the wheel of the RB21.
“We’ve got an obligation of care to guard and develop Liam and collectively, we see that after such a tough begin, it is sensible to behave rapidly so Liam can acquire expertise, as he continues his F1 profession with Visa Money App Racing Bulls, an surroundings and a Staff he is aware of very effectively.”
Lawson was given the spot alongside Verstappen at Crimson Bull after impressing in the course of the latter levels of the 2024 season whereas alongside Tsunoda at Racing Bulls.
The choice for Lawson to exchange Sergio Pérez at Crimson Bull got here as a shock to many, with Tsunoda a much more skilled driver as he entered his fifth F1 season whereas Lawson had simply 11 F1 races to his identify.
Commercial
The transfer has drawn astonishment throughout social media and motorsport pundits with BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson it “fairly merely, extraordinary” and “unprecedented.”
However since making the step up, the 23-year-old has struggled mightily. He crashed out of the primary race of the season on the Australian Grand Prix earlier than ending fifteenth on the Chinese language Grand Prix – over 81 seconds behind – though he moved as much as twelfth following the disqualification of Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly.
Lawson has struggled since making the step as much as driving for Crimson Bull this season. – Mark Thompson/Getty Pictures
Conversely, Tsunoda completed twelfth in Australia and sixteenth in China. Lawson has but to attain a drivers’ championship level via two races whereas Tsunoda has three to his identify.
Commercial
Now, Tsunoda will line up alongside Verstappen beginning at his dwelling race, the Japanese Grand Prix, on April 6. The 24-year-old will probably be Verstappen’s sixth at Crimson Bull.
Final season, Tsunoda collected 30 of Racing Bulls’ 46 factors, calling it “one in every of his greatest” seasons.
Lawson returns to Racing Bulls the place he’ll companion rookie Isack Hadjar.
“We’re extremely happy with Yuki incomes his well-deserved transfer to Oracle Crimson Bull Racing! His progress final 12 months, and extra not too long ago from the very begin of 2025, has been nothing lower than sensational,” Laurent Mekies, staff principal of Racing Bulls, .
Commercial
“Personally, and collectively, it has been an immense privilege to witness these progresses for all of us in Faenza and in Milton Keynes. Yuki’s vitality and positivity has lightened up each nook of our factories and of our storage and he’ll all the time be a Racing Bull! We want him all of the success he deserves at ORBR.
“Everybody right here at VCARB is trying ahead to working onerous with Liam to present him the very best surroundings potential for him to shine in our automotive and to specific the expertise everyone knows he has. He slot in so effectively final 12 months, and we can not wait to problem ourselves and develop as a staff. With Isack having began so strongly with us already, we all know now we have a younger and powerful line-up.”
For extra CNN information and newsletters create an account at
