Lawson Faces Uncertain Future as RB ‘do not discuss the 2025 situation’

Visa Cashapp RB affirmed their satisfaction with the performances of Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda, confirming their driver lineup won’t change – to the dismay of reserve driver Liam Lawson.

The team’s CEO, Peter Bayer, has stated they intend to keep their pairing of Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda the same next year. Tsunoda, who has been with Red Bull’s sister team since 2021, has outperformed Ricciardo in terms of points this season this far.

Change in mentality for Tsunoda

Bayer has observed a notable improvement in Tsunoda’s behaviour and professionalism. “I definitely believe he has made a big step forward,” Bayer commented, according to racefans.net. “It’s physical preparation, but it’s also his mental readiness to perform and deliver. One example I mentioned the other day: I think he simply understood that every time he would be swearing on the radio, that would cost him a tenth. So he’s got himself under control. He’s extremely professional in the work that he’s putting into the feedback with the engineers. And yes, he definitely made a big step up.”

Bayer emphasised their contentment with the current drivers. “We’re very happy with both of our drivers,” he said. “And honestly, we’re not wasting time with discussing ifs and whens. We have a very strong line-up. We have a great reserve driver. We have great talent coming through F2, F3. Currently, it’s all about focusing on performance – the focus is more on Aston Martin in front of us than on driver discussions.”

And what bout Lawson?

Lawson made his F1 debut last year, substituting for Ricciardo in five races after the Australian broke his hand, impressing with a ninth-place finish in the Singapore Grand Prix, which was the team’s best result then. Despite his strong performance, Lawson is not racing in any category this year, instead serving as a reserve driver and working on the simulator program for Red Bull.

“Liam is an extremely valuable member to the team,” Bayer said. “He’s with us every weekend, obviously. He’s doing a lot of work in the simulator. But as I said before, currently we have two drivers in the cars.

“We are finding performance with the two. And we really do not discuss the 2025 situation, perhaps because we’re in a luxury situation of having that strong grassroot pyramid behind us. So the focus is really on track and on the next couple of races until definitely the summer break.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner noted that Lawson faces stiff competition from other drivers on the team’s roster.

“They’re all Red Bull Racing drivers, and we’re only at race eight, so there’s still plenty of time. It’s good to see the youngsters performing well, and it’s good to have that competition as well.

“Liam is undoubtedly keen to get back into a race situation. The drivers in Formula 2 are performing well at the moment, Formula 3 likewise. So we have a strong vein of talent.”

Feature Image Credit: Rudy Carezzevoli via Getty Images