- Lawson to partner Max Verstappen at Red Bull next year after replacing Perez
- The 22-year-old New Zealander was promoted in place of his teammate Tsunoda
- Tsunoda beat Lawson in their six Visa RB grands prix together
Red Bull’s decision to name Liam Lawson as its new number two driver instead of Yuki Tsunoda has left many Formula One fans disappointed.
On Thursday morning, Lawson was confirmed as the new teammate of reigning world champion Max Verstappen.
The big opportunity for the 22-year-old comes after the long-awaited departure of Sergio Perez was announced on Wednesday, paving the way for the New Zealander to secure the best seat on the grid.
Lawson only made his Formula One debut with Red Bull’s sister team Visa RB, then known as AlphaTauri, in the Netherlands last season as a replacement for the injured Daniel Ricciardo.
He then replaced Ricciardo permanently, after a period as a reserve driver, earlier this year with a ninth-place finish in the United States.
However, once it emerged that Lawson had completed his four-year journey through Red Bull’s junior program to claim the second seat alongside Verstappen, fans were shocked.
22-year-old driver Liam Lawson will partner Max Verstappen at Red Bull Racing next season
Lawson replaces Sergio Pérez, who announced his departure from the team on Wednesday
Many Formula One fans believe the vacant seat should have gone to Yuki Tsunoda
Most of his followers believe that the vacant position should have been filled by Yuki Tsunoda, who has much more experience behind the wheel of an F1 car than Lawson after starting this career at Visa RB in 2021.
One disgruntled fan posted on
“We’ll see how this goes and I, for one, will be sitting down for the ‘Breaking: Yuki Tsunoda to replace Liam Lawson for the rest of the season’ graphic.”
Tsunoda outperformed Lawson in all six race weekends in which they competed against each other this season, winning four of those races and only losing the other two due to a collision.
The Japanese driver’s dominance over Lawson is another reason why fans have been confused by the decision of Christian Horner and Red Bull.
One fan wrote: ‘Has Yuki Tsunoda bested Liam Lawson in every qualifying session this year??????’
Red Bull’s history of promoting young prodigies has not always been fruitful, and Pierre Gasly’s short stint on the bench in 2019 is proof of that.
And fans fear that Lawson could suffer the same fate as Gasly, who was demoted after the summer break from his only season in the ‘A team’.
Tsuonda only lost to Lawson when he crashed, beating him four of a possible six times.
Pierre Gasly’s promotion to Red Bull in 2019 lasted just seven months before he was demoted
“I hope to see Yuki Tsunoda in that Red Bull at some point next season, but for the love of Lawson, I hope I’m wrong,” wrote one pessimistic fan.
Another posted: ‘Red Bull really hates Yuki Tsunoda, don’t they? I just hope Lawson wasn’t promoted too soon. Red Bull has form in that sense.”
Since the news of Lawson’s promotion, team manager Horner has suggested that the decision to select the New Zealander instead of Tsuonda was not an easy one.
“It was very, very tight between the two of them,” Horner said. ‘I mean, Yuki is a very fast driver. He already has three or four seasons of experience.
‘He did a very good job testing the tires for us in Abu Dhabi, where the engineers were impressed with his performance. But we feel that with Liam, when you look and analyze his race, the pace was slightly better in the races he did.
“His qualifying pace was very tight with Yuki, and you have to assume that Liam’s potential, having only done 11 grands prix, is only going to get better and stronger.” He has shown true mental toughness and toughness.
‘The engineers have enjoyed working with him throughout his journey this year. He also has a good work ethic. So it’s great to have Yuki still involved in the Racing Bull scene next year. And of course, it’s on standby in case it’s ever needed.