Kiwi’s route to the top

As the pressure piled up on Sergio Perez’s shoulders approaching F1’s summer break, it was Daniel Ricciardo’s name that was most heavily linked to being his replacement when Red Bull Racing eventually wielded the axe.

Sources say Red Bull was looking to put the Australian in the car when the season resumed – only to flip-flop and keep faith in Perez, whom they had given a new contract earlier in the year.

Ricciardo’s star then faded and it was Lawson, Ricciardo’s permanent replacement from the US Grand Prix onwards, who became the frontrunner rather than his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.

That was despite Tsunoda, pictured left with Lawson, enjoying his most impressive season to date, albeit in his fourth campaign with Racing Bulls.

The Japanese racer, who outperformed team-mate Nyck de Vries in 2023, did the same to Ricciardo. When Lawson stepped in for the final six races of this year, Tsunoda came out on top then, too, beating him six to zero in qualifying and scoring eight points to Lawson’s four.

Tsunoda is also understood to have done an impressive job in the end-of-season one-day test in Abu Dhabi where he drove a Red Bull in a performance setting for the first time.

That test was pushed for by Tsunoda’s backer Honda, which is parting ways with Red Bull at the end of next year to become Aston Martin’s works partner.

The Japanese company’s senior management is believed to have also made a case to Red Bull for promoting their junior alongside Verstappen in 2025 if Perez, who is now taking a season off from racing in F1, moved on.

But by the time of the test, the decision had been made. Despite Tsunoda having made steps in terms of his performance curve, it wasn’t enough.

Red Bull believe Lawson has a potentially higher ceiling than Tsunoda from what it has seen from his two super-sub stints. Boss Christian Horner has admitted it was “very, very tight” in choosing between the two of them, but the Kiwi edged it.

Stepping in mid-season is never easy. Lawson did it not once but twice. He went well on both occasions even if he was outperformed by Tsunoda in terms of statistics in his second stint.

Red Bull love his mental strength and his feistiness in the heat of battle. Lawson was bullish when going wheel-to-wheel in 2024, including at least twice with Perez.

That mental toughness will serve him well going up against the best driver in this generation in the shape of Verstappen. Lawson’s confidence and belief in his ability will help, too. However, he faces a mammoth task.

For now, though, Lawson has the seat he has craved for and believes he’s ready for. Deliver as he and Red Bull think he can, and he could build a formidable partnership with Verstappen.

Struggle, though, and Tsunoda may well get the chance he thinks he deserves. 

That’s why it’s important Tsunoda takes this defeat on the chin and focuses on levelling up again next year. Do that and he can be in the mix at Red Bull as well as being attractive to other teams.

The Japanese driver has been linked with Haas and Sauber in the past, while a move to Aston Marton in the future remains a possibility given Honda, which intends to keep supporting Tsunoda for the foreseeable teams, will be partnering the team from 2026.

Tensions between Red Bull are already high because Aston lured designer Adrian Newey from the former. It is understood Red Bull don’t want to give Tsunoda a year in their top team only to see him leave 12 months later and take its intellectual property to a rival.

Williams’ reserve driver, Franco Colapinto, was seen as a contender to Lawson after impressive points finishes at Austin and Baku.

But the Argentinian crashed in Brazil, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. On top of that, it has been reported Red Bull would have needed to pay out another eight-figure sum to buy Colapinto out of his contract.

Lawson’s promotion sees F2 2024 runner-up Isack Hadjar move up into Racing Bulls to partner Tsunoda for the 2025 season.

Perez, 34, had only re-signed with Red Bull in June on a one-plus-one contract. But after that, the Mexican’s form nosedived. He finished eighth on the drivers’ ladder. Red Bull lost the constructors’ championship, and settle for third behind McLaren and Ferrari.

Watch Lawson’s 31-minute in the Red Bull TV documentary In the Wings