- Lawson will partner Max Verstappen at Red Bull next year after replacing Perez
- The 22-year-old New Zealander was promoted instead of team-mate Tsunoda
- Tsunoda outqualified Lawson in all six of their grand prixs together at Visa RB
Red Bull’s decision to name Liam Lawson as their new number two driver over Yuki Tsunoda has left many Formula One fans disappointed.
On Thursday morning, Lawson was confirmed as reigning world champion Max Verstappen‘s new team-mate.
The 22-year-old’s big break comes after the long-anticipated departure of Sergio Perez was announced on Wednesday, paving the way for the New Zealander to secure the hottest seat on the grid.
Lawson only made his Formula One bow with Red Bull’s sister team Visa RB, then known as AlphaTauri, in the Netherlands last season as stand-in for the injured Daniel Ricciardo.
He then took over from Ricciardo permanently, after a period as reserve driver, earlier this year with a ninth-place finish in the US.
However, once the news broke that Lawson had completed his four-year journey through Red Bull’s junior programme to claim the second seat next to Verstappen, fans were left surprised.
22-year-old driver Liam Lawson will partner Max Verstappen at Red Bull Racing next season
Lawson replaces Sergio Perez who announced his departure from the team on Wednesday
Many Formula One fans believe that the vacant seat should have gone to Yuki Tsunoda
The majority of supporters believe the vacant position should have been filled by Yuki Tsunoda, who has vastly 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 X: ‘You know a tiny little part of me actually thought RBR was gonna make the right choice but you know what it’s fine.
‘We’ll see how this goes and I for one will be sat for the ‘Breaking: Yuki Tsunoda to replace Liam Lawson for the remainder of the season’ graphic.’
Tsunoda outqualified Lawson in all six race weekends they competed with each other this season, winning four of those races and only losing the other two due to crashing.
The Japanese driver’s dominance over Lawson is another reason why supporters have been left confused at Christian Horner and Red Bull’s decision.
One fan wrote: ‘Yuki Tsunoda has outqualified Liam Lawson in every qualfying session this year??????’
Red Bull’s history of promoting young prodigies has not always proved fruitful, with Pierre Gasly’s short period in the hot seat in 2019 a testament to that.
And supporters fear that Lawson could face the same fate as Gasly, who was demoted after the summer break of his only season in the ‘A team’.
Tsuonda only lost to Lawson when he crashed, beating him four out of a possible six times
Pierre Gasly’s promotion to Red Bull in 2019 last only seven months before he was demoted
‘Fully expect to see Yuki Tsunoda in that Red Bull at some point next season – but for Lawson’s sake I hope I’m wrong,’ wrote one pessimistic fan.
Another then posted: ‘Red Bull really hate Yuki Tsunoda don’t they? I just hope that Lawson hasn’t been promoted too early. Red Bull has form where it comes to that.’
Since the news of Lawson’s promotion, Team Principal Horner has suggested that the decision to select the New Zealander over Tsuonda was far from straightforward.
‘It was very, very tight between the two of them,’ Horner said. ‘I mean, Yuki is a very fast driver. He’s got three or four seasons of experience now.
‘He did a very good job in the tyre test for us in Abu Dhabi where the engineers were impressed with how he performed. But we just felt with Liam, when you look and go into the analytics of his race, pace was slightly better in the races that he did.
‘His qualifying pace was very tight with Yuki, and you’ve got to assume that the potential with Liam having only done 11 grand prix, is he’s only going to get better and stronger. He’s shown real mental resilience and toughness.
‘The engineers have enjoyed working with him through the running that he’s done this year. He’s got a good work ethic as well. So it is great to have Yuki still involved with the Racing Bull scene next year. And of course he’s on standby should he ever be required.’
