Horner reveals the reasons for electing to sign Lawson instead of Tsunoda
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has outlined the key reasons for electing to sign Liam Lawson as a replacement of Sergio Perez instead of the company's Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda.
After the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Red Bull announced that Sergio Perez would leave the team following the current season despite his existing contract. The Milton Keynes-based outfit then confirmed that Liam Lawson will partner four-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen in 2025 F1 season.
The New Zealand native joined the Red Bull Junior Programme in 2019 and after multiple junior formula successes made his Formula One debut with Scuderia AlphaTauri at the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix, in place of the injured Daniel Ricciardo.
He scored his first championship points in just his second outing at the Singapore GP and completed five races in all for the team. After taking up his Reserve Driver role with both teams at the start of 2024, Lawson returned to Grand Prix racing with Visa Cash App Racing Bulls with a points-scoring finish at this year’s United States Grand Prix.
While Tsunoda made his F1 debut with Red Bull's Faenza-based outfit four years ago, the company elected to promote Lawson into its senior team despite his short spell in F1.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner outlined the key reasons for choosing Lawson to partner with Max Verstappen at Red Bull, reckoning that the company believes the Kiwi has more potential to unlock in the near future.
"It was very, very tight between the two of them,” Horner told ESPN. “I mean, Yuki is a very fast driver. He’s got three or four seasons of experience now. He did a very good job in the tyre test for us in Abu Dhabi where the engineers were impressed with how he performed.
“With Liam, when you look and go into the analytics of his race, pace was slightly better in the races that he did. His qualifying pace was very tight with Yuki, and you’ve got to assume that the potential with Liam having only done 11 Grands Prix, is he’s only going to get better and stronger.”
“There’s no doubt that racing alongside Max, a four-time champion and undoubtedly one of the greatest drivers ever seen in F1, is a daunting task, but I’m sure Liam can rise to that challenge and deliver some outstanding results for us next year," concluded Horner.
