2025 Formula 1 Drivers threadFormula 1

[Dennisch]

If you would've told me Liam Lawson was gonna lose HIS seat before Doohan, I would've thought "No chance, its Briatore we're talking about".

De Telegraaf is a gossip rag first and foremost. So take it with a bag of salt.

Edit.

I could not have posted this on a worse moment.

 

[Blitz24]

Red Bull will be screwed if Max decides he wants to do something else with his time.

 

[RACECAR]

De Telegraaf is a gossip rag first and foremost. So take it with a bag of salt.

Thing is, this is being reported by EVERYONE (even Adam Stern).

 

[Dennisch]

Thing is, this is being reported by EVERYONE (even Adam Stern).

Yeah, check my ninja edit.

But good for Yuki. He deserves a shot in the Red Bull.

 

[Blitz24]

De Telegraaf is a gossip rag first and foremost. So take it with a bag of salt.

Edit.

I could not have posted this on a worse moment.

Can I have my bag of salt?

 

[GlamFM]

Annnnd, its official:




Time to break this out:

View attachment 1438734

Not saying this isn’t happening, but this is a fan account and NOT official.

 

[IforceV8]

Simply lovely.

 

[McLaren]

Old co-worker had a concern I hadn't thought of. If Yuki is also unable to come to grips with the car, will RB swap them back? Or will Yuki get the raw end of the deal & either be let go or more likely, forced to spend the rest of the year in the car whilst Liam gets to be re-situated in the easier to drive Racing Bull that Yuki has carried? Does this give RB an out to drop Yuki given the whole Honda/Yuki/Red Bull love triangle topic?

 

[Famine]

This is going to be great for the GTPFF1.

 

[Jimlaad43]

This is going to be great for the GTPFF1.

Both are 3 Tokens so I think you've gotten away with it so far

 

[Aphelion]

Old co-worker had a concern I hadn't thought of. If Yuki is also unable to come to grips with the car, will RB swap them back? Or will Yuki get the raw end of the deal & either be let go or more likely, forced to spend the rest of the year in the car whilst Liam gets to be re-situated in the easier to drive Racing Bull that Yuki has carried? Does this give RB an out to drop Yuki given the whole Honda/Yuki/Red Bull love triangle topic?

This! It just seems like redbull backing themselves into a corner to me, especially if yuki really flops.

 

[toastet]

Are they playing 4D-chess? Switch Yuki - Liam, Yuki fails miserably at his last race at Suzuka, they can finally get rid of him afterwards and get Colapinto into the junior team and get Liam back to RedBull to switch these two later on. Maybe they try Hadjar later just to make sure really nobody else than Max can drive this car or get Checo or Daniel back? Everything is possible at Drive to Survive RB-Edition 2025!

 

[ScottPuss20]

Red Bull is imploding now that they don't have the fastest car. Max will not win another championship with them. I feel sorry for Lawson because I know he's a good driver. What Christian Horner said to Toto about changing your ****ing car is ironic now.

 

[EngieDiesel]

Are they playing 4D-chess? Switch Yuki - Liam, Yuki fails miserably at his last race at Suzuka, they can finally get rid of him afterwards and get Colapinto into the junior team and get Liam back to RedBull to switch these two later on. Maybe they try Hadjar later just to make sure really nobody else than Max can drive this car or get Checo or Daniel back? Everything is possible at Drive to Survive RB-Edition 2025!

Could also be a PR move, since Yuki driving an RBR at his home race is going to be quite appealing to his personal sponsors and all, not to mention provide some great advertising material for Red Bull in Japan since the stuff is fairly popular there anyway. And as we've all seen they really don't care who's in that second car so long as they're not getting in Max's way, so may as well let him have at it.

 

[TheCracker]

Could also be a PR move, since Yuki driving an RBR at his home race is going to be quite appealing to his personal sponsors and all, not to mention provide some great advertising material for Red Bull in Japan since the stuff is fairly popular there anyway. And as we've all seen they really don't care who's in that second car so long as they're not getting in Max's way, so may as well let him have at it.

I'd say normally it would be good PR, but so far this season the Racing Bulls have been there or thereabouts, in quali at least, similar to the Red Bulls in performance. I don't think putting Yuki with Max will do him any good. He should have either been in that seat from the begining, or just finish the season in the white car whilst putting in the peformances that make it look like he should have been picked for the blue car from the start. If Yuki ends up qualifying lower than the white cars, which is really quite possible, then who benefits from that?

All this messing around swopping seats mid season rarely has any benefits for the drivers involved or the image of the team.

 

[Aphelion]

So, is this the end of Lawsons F1 career? I hope he gets another chance to prove his worth with any other team.

 

[Sureboss]

Who replaces Tsunoda after another 2 races?

 

[NLxAROSA]

The main thing is: even Verstappen can't drive this car. You can put other drivers next to him and replace them, but you'll just burn through a whole pack of perfectly fine drivers when you should really put all your effort in fixing the ****ing car.

 

[Aphelion]

Who replaces Tsunoda after another 2 races?

It'd be funny if it's Daniel ricciardo.

 

[Blitz24]

Red Bull is imploding now that they don't have the fastest car. Max will not win another championship with them. I feel sorry for Lawson because I know he's a good driver. What Christian Horner said to Toto about changing your ****ing car is ironic now.

Max can definitely still win the championship. They have no chance at the constructors title unless McLaren decides to go full Ferrari.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Widespread media reporting on it now. Sounds like it's done.

Liam Lawson: Red Bull set to replace New Zealander with Yuki Tsunoda for Japanese Grand Prix

Red Bull are set to drop Liam Lawson after just two races and replace him for the Japanese Grand Prix with Yuki Tsunoda.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[GlamFM]

This can backfire in so many ways.

 

[Imbissbrunto]

Who are they going to replace Yuki with when he inevitably runs into trouble with RB‘s current car, though?

 

[DK]

Who are they going to replace Yuki with when he inevitably runs into trouble with RB‘s current car, though?

"Get in the 🤬 Red Bull, Shinji. Or Rei will have to pilot it."

 

[RACECAR]

From last year:

There's part of me holding on to the slimmest of hopes that going off this, HE is the guy that can hang with Max. But as usual, I'm not expecting this to end any differently.

 

[Imbissbrunto]

I mean, Yuki has potential (definitely more than Liam imo) but I seriously doubt he‘ll be able to use it with a car as flawed as the RB21 apparently is.

 

[GlamFM]

I mean, Yuki has potential (definitely more than Liam imo) but I seriously doubt he‘ll be able to use it with a car as flawed as the RB21 apparently is.

It did take Yuki pretty long to get up to speed when he joined F1 though - longer than it took Liam.

Liam also beat Yuki pretty consistently during their junior years on equal machinery.
And Liam was also faster during his first short F1 stint.

I like Yuki a lot, but let's be honest here - his career has been helped massively by Honda and him being Japanese.

He is nothing special just like Liam and I also don't think he'll do any better than Liam at RB.


Worst case scenario (but also most realistic): RB win 0 titles, burn 2 drivers and millions in cash.

I wouldn't do the switch if I was RB and I would refuse the switch if offered if I was Yuki.

 

[Imbissbrunto]

Worst case scenario (but also most realistic): RB win 0 titles, burn 2 drivers and millions in cash.

This sounds like the most likely outcome to me as well. And I wouldn‘t be surprised if Max Verstappen ends up leaving the team altogether at some point.

With him and Adrian Newey gone, Red Bull Racing would be done in F1.

 

[McLaren]

Could also be a PR move, since Yuki driving an RBR at his home race is going to be quite appealing to his personal sponsors and all, not to mention provide some great advertising material for Red Bull in Japan since the stuff is fairly popular there anyway. And as we've all seen they really don't care who's in that second car so long as they're not getting in Max's way, so may as well let him have at it.

That's a bold PR move. This is a triple header coming up, which means Yuki needs to stick with the car all 3 weekends for him (& Liam) to stay consistent.

So, is this the end of Lawsons F1 career? I hope he gets another chance to prove his worth with any other team.

I think that's going to come down to how he & Yuki perform in the others' car now.

I do think Yuki is the one who comes out on top, though. If he struggles, I don't think it becomes any more clearer it's not Liam, it is in fact the car. If Yuki performs well, he highlights that he's been ready all along & Red Bull can relax a bit.

 

[Saidur_Ali]

This can backfire in so many ways.

Yuki can show up Max.

Hopefully for Yuki's sake, he gets the car upgrades as soon as Max, would be great timing for him. Red Bull were planning to catch McLaren in 3-5 races and fix their 🤬 car so Suzuka could be earliest opportunity to receive upgrades that could make it easier to drive fast. Yuki could look like the GOAT if he does even as well as Checo did last year of getting within less than a tenth at Suzuka, even better if he manages to outqualify Max. As long as he manages to not be last, it will be a step forward for them.

Media trys and makes it sound like Max is the teammate destroyer but most of his teammates have got their biggest and longest contracts after being teammates with him. Yuki on the other hand has put an end to a lot of fast drivers in F1. For example, the honey badger got offered a big contract when he was with Max but they got rid of him when he couldn't get the better of Yuki consistently.

It is more an issue with car at Red Bull as Adrian Newey said it is something he was concerned about but not many at Red Bull were and thinks it is due to maybe inexperience.