Yuki Tsunoda (left) will change Liam Lawson driving for Crimson Bull. – Mark Thompson/Getty Photographs
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 automobile – Racing Bulls is Crimson Bull’s developmental staff.
“It has been troublesome to see Liam battle with the RB21 on the first two races and because of this we have now 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 this can be a purely sporting choice.
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“We acknowledge there’s plenty of work to be carried out with the RB21 and Yuki’s expertise will show extremely useful in serving to to develop the present automobile. We welcome him to the Crew and are trying ahead to seeing him behind the wheel of the RB21.
“We’ve an obligation of care to guard and develop Liam and collectively, we see that after such a troublesome 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 atmosphere and a Crew he is aware of very effectively.”
Lawson was given the spot alongside Verstappen at Crimson Bull after impressing through the latter levels of the 2024 season whereas alongside Tsunoda at Racing Bulls.
The choice for Lawson to switch 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 title.
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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 Photographs
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 title.
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Now, Tsunoda will line up alongside Verstappen beginning at his house race, the Japanese Grand Prix, on April 6. The 24-year-old can be Verstappen’s sixth at Crimson Bull.
Final season, Tsunoda collected 30 of Racing Bulls’ 46 factors, calling it “certainly one of his finest” seasons.
Lawson returns to Racing Bulls the place he’ll associate rookie Isack Hadjar.
“We’re extremely pleased with Yuki incomes his well-deserved transfer to Oracle Crimson Bull Racing! His progress final 12 months, and extra just lately from the very begin of 2025, has been nothing lower than sensational,” Laurent Mekies, staff principal of Racing Bulls, .
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“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 at all times 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 offer him the very best atmosphere potential for him to shine in our automobile and to precise the expertise everyone knows he has. He slot in so effectively final 12 months, and we can’t wait to problem ourselves and develop as a staff. With Isack having began so strongly with us already, we all know we have now a younger and powerful line-up.”
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