Red Bull recently received major backlash after they made the controversial move of replacing Liam Lawson with Yuki Tsunoda after just two races. This time, even Max Verstappen didn’t shy away from criticizing his team he has won four championships with.
It all started when Verstappen liked Giedo van der Garde’s rant against Red Bull following Lawson’s demotion. Upon arriving in Japan, Verstappen was asked what had been discussed between him and Red Bull. While he admitted that he isn’t pleased, he refused to reveal what he told his team.
“Everything has been shared with the team, how I think about everything. Sometimes it’s not necessary to always share everything in public. I think it’s better,” said Verstappen.
With Red Bull having made the unpopular decision of swapping their drivers, all eyes were always going to be on Tsunoda to evaluate whether the team made the right decision or not. Unlike Lawson — who failed to even get out of Q1 in all three qualifying sessions he competed in — the Japanese driver managed to cross that hurdle at least.
However, Tsunoda qualified a place behind Lawson, the man he replaced at Red Bull. Meanwhile, Verstappen fetched a historic pole, which again reignited the debate about whether Red Bull’s car is a problem or whether it is the drivers who have driven in the second seat.
When asked, Verstappen was adamant that the second driver is not a problem. He made a reference to Lawson’s performance in the Racing Bulls to explain his point.
“Liam feels a bit more comfortable in the Racing Bull. As I said, the problem is not the driver, it’s the car. The team decides who they put in it. I’m fine with it, but we have to keep the focus on the problem, and that’s the car,” said Verstappen per De Telegraaf.
Demotion? What demotion?
LIAM LAWSON out-qualifies YUKI TSUNODA #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/S0WVpt1GSB
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) April 5, 2025
Although Red Bull still have not been able to solve their second driver problem, they did have some positives to take after Tsunoda’s outing at Suzuka. The Japanese driver explained that despite him only managing P15 in qualifying, he has now understood what he needs to do to better handle the RB21, which he believes has a very narrow operating window.
Can Tsunoda bounce back?
After his Q2 exit, Tsunoda claimed that he managed to find pace in the RB21. He began his initial run by stunning everyone as he was only a tenth of a second away from Verstappen. But unfortunately, he couldn’t maintain the same pace to be in the top 10.
“The positive is that I have started to understand the car,” Tsunoda said to Sky Sports. “It is quite difficult to operate properly, quite narrow, but I have confidence now and know what to do in future.”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner felt for the Japanese driver as he said, “He (Tsunoda) had a big moment in turn two, and you’re never gonna recover from it. I think it’s a shame because he would’ve comfortably made the Top 10 today, but he could still race well from there tomorrow.”
It was reported that Tsunoda ran on Saturday with more rear wing than Verstappen in qualifying, and this had a direct effect on his performance. 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve, though, berated Tsunoda for going with “comfort”. Nevertheless, Tsunoda can recover on Sunday as Suzuka is one of the most suited tracks for him.
