F1 News
"Liam Lawson is already out for the next race. Tsunoda will replace him"
It's been a topic that came about as a rumour after Liam Lawson's P20 qualifying result at China, and since then it's been doing nothing more than gain momentum. However, according to former F1 driver turned pundit, Ralf Schumacher, it is a certainty: Yuki Tsunoda will replace the New Zealander at Red Bull Racing as of the next race in Japan.
"Liam Lawson already out. Tsunoda will replace him"
After the Chinese Grand Prix, where Tsunoda made yet another good impression, and Lawson made none at all, Sky Sports Germany pundit and former F1 driver, Ralf Schumacher, stated: "Liam Lawson is already out for the next race. Tsunoda will replace him," meaning he believes the New Zealander will not arrive at Suzuka in a fortnight in Red Bull Racing colours, but rather, his former teammate at the now dubbed Racing Bulls outfit, Tsunoda, will.
While Tsunoda has been getting his VCARB02 into every Q3 session this season, Lawson has not been able to make it past Q1 in any of them. The Japanese driver has seen point scoring results fall away through no fault of his own at the two Grand Prix that have been run this season with a strategic miscall from the pitwall denying him points in Australia, and a freak front wing main plate incident which forced him to make an unscheduled pitstop in China left him out of the top ten in Shanghai.
Whereas Lawson has been unable to cope with the idiosincracies of the Red Bull Racing car, the RB21, to get it anywhere near the point scoring places. After a oor showing during the sprint wualifying, the sprint race seemed to go better for the New Zealander, which offered some hope ahead of qualifying. However, whatever hope there was quickly went out the window as Lawson qualified in P20 and last for the Grand Prix on Sunday.
After the race, it was clear that a recovery drive failed to materialise despite Red Bull Racing's attempts to help their driver get on top of the RB21, with a P15 finish at the flag transforming into a P12 due to the subsequent disqualifications of Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly.