Red Bull driver swap speculation after “unusual” decision

There is rarely much peace within the Red Bull driver line-ups at their two F1 teams.

After a sole race in the 2025 F1 season, there is also scrutiny on their two rookies.

Red Bull’s Liam Lawson and Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar had a Sunday to forget at last weekend’s F1 Australian Grand Prix.

Lawson was promoted from the sister team to alongside Max Verstappen when Red Bull chose to dispense with the under-performing Sergio Perez.

But Lawson was picked ahead of then-teammate Yuki Tsunoda - who duly out-performed him in Australia.

Sky Sports’ expert and former race strategist Bernie Collins was asked: “What do they see in Lawson over him?”

She said about Tsunoda: “We see the lap times on track, the performances, and some radio communications. Tsunoda has definitely improved his calmness.

“From the outside, I agree.

“But we don’t see what goes on in the engineering debriefs, what they feed back to the team, how they work with the team.

“I don’t see anything to say that Tsunoda shouldn’t get the drive.

“It is unusual from Red Bull, at this stage.

“But the year is far from done… we will see how it progresses…”

Yuki Tsunoda advised on Red Bull dream

Red Bull can be brutal with their in-season driver swaps.

Lawson was the beneficiary of their decision to get rid of Daniel Ricciardo mid-way through last year.

Ricciardo made a mid-season comeback when Red Bull replaced Nyck de Vries a year earlier.

So Lawson might feel the heat from Tsunoda breathing down his neck.

Tsunoda left the Australian Grand Prix empty-handed when a strategy call backfired.

He had previously spent time running in P6.

Lawson crashed out, while Tsunoda’s new teammate Hadjar crashed on the formation lap and was reduced to tears.

Collins advised Tsunoda how he can maintain the pressure to earn a Red Bull drive.

“He’s got to keep putting performances in,” she said.

“He’s doing that. His qualifying was very impressive.

“If that car out-qualifies the No2 Red Bull car, there will be questions to answer.

“He will hope it continues for many weekends to come.”