Red Bull have reportedly decided to replace Sergio Perez with Liam Lawson, despite the fact that the New Zealander only has 12 Grand Prix weekends under his belt.
Perez’s 2024 campaign has been nothing short of miserable. He is locked into P8 in the Drivers’ Championship standings, despite team-mate Max Verstappen winning the title with two rounds to spare, and has just one top-nine finish in his last seven Grands Prix.
Heading into the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, reports surfaced explaining that Red Bull have decided to move on from Perez, with Christian Horner’s team willing to offer the Mexican racer an ambassadorial role to ensure a smooth transition out of his seat.
According to a report from Motorsport Italy, Perez’s replacement has now been decided. Lawson is preferred to Yuki Tsunoda and will make the step up to partner Verstappen in 2025.
With Perez out of the picture and Lawson moving up, an opportunity will also appear for Isack Hadjar, who will join a rookie class of Jack Doohan, Oliver Bearman, Kimi Antonelli and Formula Two title rival Gabriel Bortoleto.
While Lawson will no doubt be ecstatic over this golden opportunity, Tsunoda will be furious. He has demonstrated strong pace against the likes of Pierre Gasly, Nyck de Vries and Daniel Ricciardo during his VCARB career but has always been overlooked for a promotion.
“To my team-mates it’s quite clear, the current team-mates,” Tsunoda said on Thursday. “And also quite clear what I’ve done this year, it’s quite clear that I should get a chance.
“But I don’t know, [it is] up to them. Formula One is also a politics sport as well, and anything can happen. I’m sure, partly, the last race here is quite important.
“But for me I feel like every race so far has been a very important race because I started [in my] first race fighting a bit with Daniel. I [could] be the person probably sitting on the sofa right now.”
