The second seat at Red Bull has long been regarded as a poisoned chalice, with many drivers being promoted into it and finding that they can’t even get close to the performance level of Max Verstappen, with Liam Lawson the latest incumbent of that F1 seat.
Pierre Gasly, Alexander Albon and Sergio Perez have all failed to find consistent results as Verstappen‘s teammate in recent years, and the early signs are that Lawson could be set to join those names. The New Zealander earned his place at Red Bull by impressing with Racing Bulls in 2024, but he has started the 2025 season in a terrible manner.
A string of mistakes and an ongoing lack of pace from Lawson means that he is yet to even get close to picking up points for his team, while Verstappen has been fighting at the top end of the field. Red Bull has finished third in the last two Constructors’ Championships, despite having the fastest driver in their team and arguably the fastest car too.
Red Bull does not need a driver who can consistently beat Verstappen, but they need someone to be close to the Dutchman. Verstappen has finished P2 and P4 this season, whilst Lawson has had one DNF and a P12 at the Chinese Grand Prix. The latter result looks far better than it was, with disqualifications for three higher-placed cars coming after the race.
Is it actually Verstappen’s fault?
A school of thought has recently emerged, backed up by comments from drivers, which suggests that Verstappen is both the solution and the cause of all Red Bull‘s issues. Essentially, the quality of the four-time world champion is such that he can drive around the myriad of issues that the Red Bull car has.
There is an incredibly specific ‘window’ in which the Red Bull can deliver blistering pace, and Verstappen and his team are almost always able to find it as he is so embedded into the entire project.
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For the second driver, though, who has not had the car built around them, that window becomes almost impossible to find. Once you cannot find it, you have poor results or a crash, the confidence goes a little bit more, and the vicious cycle towards being replaced begins.
For that reason, moving Tsunoda into Lawson‘s seat may not solve any problems for Red Bull. They could burn through as many young drivers as they like, but the result will be the same. From Red Bull‘s perspective, why would they tear up the formula for a car that one driver is able to deliver consistent world championships in?
Perez once said: “I would feel comfortable in the car, but it would be slower.” Albon appeared on the High Performance Podcast in late-2023 to talk about his time in the Red Bull, and he explained that Verstappen has an extremely aggressive driving style that leaves no room for another driver to have success in that car.
“What ended up happening was, especially during my year, you start off being a little bit behind, but not by much, and then as the season goes on, Max wants this front-end in the car, he wants his car to be sharper, sharper,” the Thai-British racer commented.
“As it goes sharper and sharper, he goes quicker and quicker, and for you to catch up you have to start taking a little bit more risk. You might be a couple of tenths behind one session, just try a little bit more, ‘OK, I’ve gone off, I’ve had a crash’, and you’ve got to restart.
“Then you’ve lost a little bit of confidence, it takes a little bit more time, that gap is growing a little bit, and the next time you try and go out and do another job, [it’s] another spin or another whatever – it just starts to snowball. Every time the car becomes sharper and sharper, you start to become more tense.”
Even Lawson himself said in China: “The car’s window is extremely small. I can’t find it. That’s why I don’t have 100% confidence in the car. I lack the time to understand the car better.”
Could Lawson be on the chopping block already?
Reports have already started emerging which suggest that Lawson could be gone from Red Bull in the very, very near future. In that situation, Yuki Tsunoda would be the man to move up from Racing Bulls and have a crack at being Verstappen‘s teammate.
It may seem absurd, but Red Bull is a ruthless team, something that is easy to forget given they gave Sergio Perez an unusually long amount of time to keep missing out on the points. Helmut Marko said to the press in Shanghai this weekend: “Lawson isn’t delivering what we expect from him. We will have to analyse this calmly. Everyone at Red Bull knows: For us, performance is what matters.”
It seems very feasible that Lawson will continue to underperform as his confidence is eroded away, but sacking him and replacing him with somebody else is unlikely to get Red Bull what they want. Until they create a more user-friendly car that accommodates different driving styles, this trend could continue. But if Verstappen is winning, do they really care?
