Is F1's Liam Lawson Really Being Replaced By Former RB Teammate Yuki Tsunoda? Here's What We Know!

Rumors are swirling about Liam Lawson‘s future at the Oracle Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team!

The 23-year-old New Zealander has had a rough start to the 2025 F1 season, after crashing in the debut race in Australia, and finishing outside the points in China. Liam has yet to score any points in the first two races, or the sprint race, this year, while his teammate, 4-time world champion Max Verstappen has scored 36.

Liam joined the team after replacing Sergio Perez, who parted ways with Red Bull after an unimpressive second half of 2024. That year, Liam drove for junior team RB (now Racing Bulls), replacing Daniel Ricciardo, and earned the team four points in six races.

Now, rumors have been going rampant since Melbourne, and there are new reports suggesting Red Bull will replace Liam soon with Racing Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda.

Keep reading to find out more…

After the Chinese Grand Prix, team principal Christian Horner addressed the speculation of Liam being replaced as soon as the third race, the Japanese Grand Prix.

“I think Liam’s had a tough couple of races, a tough weekend here,” he said. “We elected to take him off the grid, out of Parce Ferme, to do a significant set-up change, so we managed to get 56 laps of reasonable data from that. Obviously, we’ll take that away, we’ll have a good look at it, and as a group we’ll do our best to support him.”

As for the rumors, Christian said, “There’s always going to be speculation in the paddock. As I say, we’ve only just finished the race here, we’ll take away the info and have a good look at it.”

“Look, I think everything is purely speculative at the moment. As I say, we’ve just finished this race, we’re going to take away the info and have a good look at it,” he continued. “I think Liam still has got potential, we’re just not realising that at the moment. I think the problem for him is he’s had a couple of really tough weekends and he’s got all the media on his back. The pressure just naturally grows in this business.”

“I feel very sorry for him that he’s… you can see it’s very tough on him at the moment,” Christian added. “We’re going to do the best that we can to support him. Liam’s still a very capable driver, we know that, we’re just not… for whatever reason, we’re not seeing him able to deliver that at the moment.”

Following the above statements, the are now multiple reports that Yuki will be replacing Liam effective starting with the former’s home race, Japanese Grand Prix, next weekend.

It is to note that nothing is official and Red Bull has not made any official announcement. It is being said that the decision is set to be revealed later this week.

With Yuki moving up to Red Bull, who would take his spot at Racing Bulls alongside rookie Isack Hadjar? PlanetF1 reports that Liam would just be demoted back to Racing Bulls, effectively swapping the drivers.

There have also been recent reports that Alpine reserve driver Franco Colapinto could be a contender, but that seems unlikely.