The Red Bull driver situation has once again reached a difficult juncture with Sergio Perez’s underperformance. Amid that, Liam Lawson tested for the Milton Keynes outfit in a filming event at Silverstone last week. This indicated that he is the first choice to replace Perez if Red Bull opt to do so. However, Yuki Tsunoda stated how it would be “weird” if they chose Lawson ahead of him. Now, Helmut Marko has set the record straight while replying to Tsunoda’s assumption.
Speaking to Motorsport.com, the Red Bull advisor explained the driver dilemma the Milton Keynes outfit is facing despite having signed Perez for the 2025 season on a reported 1+1 year deal. Marko stated, “Yes because we also have the Racing Bulls. So we have to consider everything”.
Yuki Tsunoda was not impressed by rumours of RB reserve driver Liam Lawson being promoted to Red Bull before him #F1 pic.twitter.com/jFf413sUgH
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 18, 2024
About Tsunoda’s comments, the 81-year-old said, “He should first wait what the decisions will be”. The Japanese driver had mentioned that Lawson had done well last year in his few races after substituting for Daniel Ricciardo.
However, Tsunoda felt he had done more than the Kiwi driver. Tsunoda has continued his good form into the 2024 season, scoring the bulk of points at V-CARB.
But Red Bull have still not considered him as a serious option to take a promotion to the senior team. Meanwhile, Marko highly rates the Japanese prodigy and states that “everything is open” when asked about who among Tsunoda, Lawson, and Ricciardo has got the edge, in case they decide to replace Perez in 2025.
Lawson – the outside contender ahead of Tsunoda and Ricciardo for Perez’s seat
Perez’s form since the Miami GP has become a huge cause of concern for Red Bull. There is a lot of chatter about the performance clauses in his contract that require him to be within 100 points of Max Verstappen in the standings during the summer break.
With that gap at 137 points ahead of the Hungarian GP, there is speculation that Red Bull is thinking about replacing the Mexican altogether after the summer break. However, neither Tsunoda nor Ricciardo have staked a strong claim on the second seat at Milton Keynes.
Per the Race, Lawson’s test in Silverstone was good enough and at the level of Perez’s pace in the initial races of this season. The #11 driver got four podiums in the first five races in 2024. But since then, his pace has fallen off with Mercedes, McLaren, and Ferrari drivers outperforming him week in and week out.
So, Lawson is in a decent position with the skepticism around Tsunoda’s readiness to take a step up to Red Bull. On top of that, Ricciardo’s failure to outperform the Japanese driver has also led Red Bull to consider Lawson more seriously over the current V-CARB duo.
