Replacing Liam Lawson with Yuki Tsunoda was more of a fait accompli than a well-thought-out plan. Now the young Japanese driver has joined the list of victims buried in Formula 1’s career graveyard.
Sorry, your name is…? It’s easy to put the blame on Verstappen here. Sure, in the past, he put the “me mate” in teammate, but there is nothing deliberate now. Nothing against Lawson, Tsunoda or before them others, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, Sergio Perez, et al.
The truth of the matter is, teammates don’t even register as a thing these days. Verstappen probably views them like a binary component on his car – it works, or it doesn’t. Either way, he’ll drive around the issue until it’s fixed. Despite this, the trail of broken confidences behind him continues to lengthen.
Don’t shoot the messenger. However, the real culprit here is not Max but the larger team around him - I’m talking about Christian Horner, the Good Doctor, and all the others in Red Bull who help create the monster that is the RB21.
The direction of the RB cars since 2023 has been one that suits only one man: Verstappen. All fine for the Dutch Champion, but an expensive direction for the team as a whole. The RB 20’s driveability left them finishing only third in the 2024 F1 Constructors Championship.
One man team costing Red Bull dearly
Based on the 2025 performance to date, it looks like fourth is now a distinct possibility. When points mean prizes, this strategy is costing millions of dollars.
The revolving driver door tactic has yielded only two single-digit point results this year. Since the drivers were top ten finishers in the sister team’s cars, Red Bull needs to rethink how it approaches this problem.
Logically, it would be better to have a chassis that was more friendly for the mortal second pilot and let their number one do what he does best; drive around its shortcomings. It’s also something any new team that might be benefiting from Max’s services in the future might also want to ponder.
With 2026’s new regulations looming large and a possible “Maxit” on the cards, investing in a fix is not a viable option. It seems, in Constructor Championship terms, they are condemned to finish outside of the top three. No Xmas bonus at Milton Keynes this year, guys.
No “F” in idea. Meanwhile, we can expect a confused Tsunoda to continue circulating at the rearward end of the grid. It is unlikely Red Bull will want to risk Isack Hadjar’s promising forward momentum or new boy Arvid Lindblad in F1’s poisoned chalice.
However, we might see Liam Lawson stood down at some point to blood the young British/Swedish driver. Make note of Arvid Lindblad. For now, at Red Bull, gone are those Halcyon days of ’23 and ‘24.
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