Is another driver change on the horizon for Red Bull? Following an emergency meeting in Dubai on Tuesday, the team management reportedly decided to finally promote Yuki Tsunoda to the main team. In this scenario, Liam Lawson would be making an exit after just two Grands Prix. Amidst all the rumors of an early exit for Lawson, team boss Christian Horner explained that Red Bull needs two drivers who consistently score points.
Christian Horner was asked to assess Red Bull’s chances in the constructors’ championship after the race weekend in China. Partly due to the extremely disappointing season of Sergio Pérez, the team lost the title to McLaren last year. Pérez was replaced by Liam Lawson for 2025, but he too has yet to score any points for the Austrians. A new embarrassment for Max Verstappen’s team seems to be brewing.
After Liam Lawson qualified outside the top ten in Melbourne and ended his race with a late crash, he had to redeem himself in Shanghai. Unfortunately, he qualified at the very back in both the sprint race and the main event. A deal in which Yuki Tsunoda replaces Lawson at Red Bull is imminent, Christian Horner hinted after the race. “Look, you never say never,” Horner referred to Red Bull’s title chances. “McLaren showed last year that you can recover from a difficult start to the year. And we are only eight points behind in the championship.”
Red Bull Under Pressure
However, he admitted that it will be a Herculean task to catch up with McLaren. “It’s going to be a very tough challenge,” the Brit continued. “We will need to make significant progress with the car to be able to compete. You need two cars scoring points – that hurt us a lot last year. The same goes for the drivers’ championship. For the team, it’s vital that both drivers stay as close as possible to the leaders.”
Thanks in part to the strong performances of both McLaren drivers and the two podium finishes of Mercedes’ lead driver George Russell, Red Bull is immediately under pressure. Therefore, the choice for Horner seems inevitable – if Liam Lawson continues to underperform, he will sooner or later have to step aside. However, he does not want to underestimate the role of the RB21. The car simply cannot compete with McLaren’s MCL39. “In the end, we have four hundred engineers who have six hundred sensors on the car at their disposal,” he concluded. “So, we have enough information to turn the tide.”
