Liam Lawson replaces Sergio Perez and will compete alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull in 2025. A Formula 1 expert says that was a mistake: For Johnny Herbert, Yuki Tsunoda would have been the right choice for the cockpit next to Verstappen.
Liam Lawson will drive for Red Bull in 2025 – not Yuki Tsunoda. A mistake for expert and ex-Formula 1 driver Johnny Herbert. “I was most impressed by Yuki. I like his liveliness – he’s not afraid to get loud,” he analyzed for “Plejmo.com“The internal team duel at the Racing Bulls in the last races of the 2024 season.
The fact that this duel was particularly in focus was mainly due to Sergio Perez’s increasingly weak performance in the Red Bull. The fact that his time was coming to an end was something that the sparrows in the Formula 1 paddock had been whistling from the rooftops for a long time. The most discussed question was who would take over the Mexican’s cockpit from 2025.
Formula 1: Tsunoda has the right “mentality” for Red Bull
After Carlos Sainz joined Williams, it quickly became clear that Red Bull would rely on a youngster. With Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson there were two talents from our own youth academy who were also in Red Bull’s B team, the Racing Bulls.
Ultimately they decided on the New Zealander. Red Bull consultant Helmut Marko recently defended this decision exclusively in an interview with RTL/ntv and sport.de. If you look at the direct duel between Tsunoda and Lawson in the six races in which they drove together for the Racing Bulls, Tsunoda is clearly in the lead.
In the qualifying duel, Tsunoda prevailed 6-0 against Lawson, who replaced Daniel Ricciardo in the final third of the season. “I like his qualifying. He has his advantage, especially mentally. He doesn’t worry about saying anything about his team or the drivers around him,” said Herbert.
“You need this mentality to compete with the best,” Herbert is sure. “Whether he would beat Max? I’m not sure, but I think it would be close. And that’s what Red Bull needs.”