Formula One: Liam Lawson’s stablemate hits out at talk of potential Red Bull promotion

Liam Lawson’s potential promotion into Formula One has been labelled as “weird” by stablemate Yuki Tsunoda, with the Kiwi in contention to move straight into Red Bull’s senior team.

With Formula One currently in Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix on Monday (NZ time), the future of Red Bull’s driver lineup has come under the microscope.

Lawson, 22, is in contention to be elevated into the senior team as the organisation ponders the future of current driver Sergio Perez.

However, that promotion would come at the expense of Tsunoda, who has been in Formula One since 2021 with Red Bull’s sister team, Racing Bulls.

Speaking before the race weekend in Budapest, Tsunoda addressed the idea of Lawson being promoted straight into the world champion side ahead of him.

“If they choose Liam, that would be weird,” he said.

“But for me at least, I don’t think [it will happen]. For sure, Liam did a really good job when he drove in the team but I think I did more than that.

“We’ll see how it goes. In the end, [Red Bull] know how to manage drivers.”

Head to head, Lawson boasts a better record against Tsunoda. Of the five Formula One races the pair completed as then-AlphaTauri teammates last year, Lawson finished ahead of Tsunoda in four of them.

Despite penning a contract extension earlier this year, Mexican driver Perez is understood to be in the firing line after a series of poor performances that have returned just 15 points in his last six races.

It has been widely reported that Perez’s new contract contains a clause that would allow Red Bull to terminate it should he trail teammate Max Verstappen by more than 100 points at the upcoming summer break.

With two races to go, the gap between Perez and Verstappen is 137 points.

However, should Red Bull wish to exercise that clause, the reigning world champions have painted themselves into a corner as to who would replace Perez.

Neither Tsunoda nor Daniel Ricciardo – both with Racing Bulls – have set the world alight this season, sitting 12th and 13th in the championship.

As the reserve driver for both Red Bull teams, Lawson is another contender to partner Verstappen. However, it would be unlikely, given he boasts just five races of Formula One experience, accrued when deputising for an injured Ricciardo last year.

Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda at the Qatar Grand Prix, 2023. Photo / Getty Images

Much of the speculation this year has pitted Lawson against Ricciardo, as Red Bull adviser and head of youth development Helmut Marko repeatedly emphasised the need for Racing Bulls to be a junior team, as opposed to a sister team.

But while Lawson is backed by Marko, Ricciardo has been afforded the same support from Christian Horner, Red Bull’s senior team principal.

Australian Ricciardo has been instrumental in Formula One’s explosion in popularity since 2020, thanks to his central role in the Netflix Drive to Survive documentary series.

That saw Horner hire Ricciardo in a promotional role after the driver parted ways with McLaren at the end of 2022, before instigating a mid-season switch after a successful mid-season test at Silverstone that saw Dutchman Nyck de Vries sacked.

And while Horner has been keen to play it down, Lawson completed a similar test at the same venue after the British Grand Prix earlier this month.

While he’s been in Formula One for four seasons now, Tsunoda has never threatened to be promoted into Red Bull’s senior side from its subsidary.

The 24-year-old’s place at Racing Bulls is secured through his links to Honda, the team’s engine manufacturer. Tsunoda’s current contract runs to the end of 2025, the same length of time before Honda leaves Red Bull to supply engines to Aston Martin.

Also pressing for Red Bull is the fact that Lawson’s current contract contains an exit clause should the team not offer him a seat for the 2025 season by a certain date. The Herald understands that date is in September.

Last month, it was reported that Audi, which will soon take over the current Sauber team, were interested in Lawson should they miss out on signing Carlos Sainz from Ferrari.

However, Lawson’s management has told the Herald he is committed to staying at Red Bull, who have backed him since he was 17.

Likewise, Red Bull are understood to be hesitant to lose Lawson, thus spurning the millions they have invested in his development.

Red Bull have backed the Kiwi through junior categories Formula Three, Formula Two and the Japanese Super Formula championship.

Lawson’s management team told the Herald they were unaware of Red Bull’s intentions for him but expected to learn by the mid-season break.

Alex Powell is an Online Sports Editor for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016, and previously worked for both Newshub and 1News.