Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has dismissed early talk of a driver swap between Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda following the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix.
Lawson has suffered a torrid Red Bull introduction with 100% Q1 exits and zero points scored across the opening two rounds of the 2025 campaign.
Tsunoda, meanwhile, has been in a rich vein of form for Racing Bulls as a consistent member of the qualifying top-10 with points finishes escaping him down only to team strategy.
The Japanese driver has been vocal in his desire to jump into a Red Bull at the earliest opportunity and senior advisor Helmut Marko has been impressed, telling Autosport: “Yuki is a different Yuki from the years before. He is in the form of his life.
“Obviously he changed his management. He has a different approach. He’s more mature. It took a while, but now it looks like it’s working.”
Reports point toward a possible early swap, even as immediate as the next round in Japan, but Horner has rallied around his current driver and dismissed this speculation.
“There’s always going to be speculation in the paddock,” he said.
“As I say, we’ve only just finished the race here. We’ll take away the info and have a good look at it.
“There’s nothing specific that’s been set up. I think everything is purely speculative at the moment. I think Liam still has got potential. We’re just not realising that at the moment.
“I’m not even going to comment on a change, because that would be your first headline. As I say, we’re two races into this championship. We have a sample of two.”
Red Bull wants the ‘best’ for Lawson
Red Bull selected Lawson as it saw potential in the New Zealander.
The problem is the RB21 is a difficult car to get to grips with and even Max Verstappen is having trouble working around its performance deficit.
Horner is adamant that Red Bull’s duty is to help Lawson get out of his current predicament and sympathises with his new driver.
“We have quite a bit of information. We’re going to go away and have a good look at it, and work with Liam and do the best that we can for him,” he said.
“I think the problem for him is he’s had a couple of really tough weekends.
“He’s got all the media on his back, a whole bunch.
“The pressure just naturally grows in this business, and I feel very sorry for him. You can see it’s very tough on him at the moment.
“I think he’s a young guy. We’ve got a duty to look after him and we’re going to do the best that we can to support him. And, yes, Liam’s still a very capable driver. We know that. We’re just not seeing it for whatever reason.
“We’re not seeing him able to deliver that at the moment.”
READ MORE – Liam Lawson issues defiant response to Yuki Tsunoda’s interest in Red Bull switch
