Long Read: What is happening at Red Bull Racing and can Yuki Tsunoda aid their case?

We are only two Grands Prix into the 2025 Formula 1 season, yet Red Bull Racing have already replaced Liam Lawson due to underwhelming performances. The New Zealander was swept aside after completing just two races for the team, the least of any driver in their history. His replacement, Yuki Tsunoda, has been promised to drive alongside Max Verstappen for the remaining twenty-two races this season. However, the Red Bull situation raises numerous questions amidst the Formula 1 paddock: How does Yuki stack up against Max? Can Red Bull find improvements to their car? Are the days of team principal Christian Horner and advisor Helmut Marko numbered? This week, I will take you through some of the latest developments around the F1 team that clinched the driver’s title in the last four seasons.

Tsunoda in the RB20 at the 2024 F1 post-season test, retrieved from Red Bull Content pool.

Where do I begin? Red Bull Racing is currently swamped in rumours and speculations. However, these might be the least of worries for the Milton Keynes based team, as various crisis meetings occurred after the Chinese Grand Prix. The trouble set off on Tuesday, as initial rumours emerged about the driver swap. On Thursday, Red Bull confirmed the changes, and an internal crisis meeting proceeded the announcement. This meeting had little to do with the driver swap, it was more of a technical brief between team principal Christian Horner, Max Verstappen, and the engineers on what must be improved on Red Bull’s 2025 F1 challenger, the RB21. Verstappen, however, had outed his criticism on the managerial decisions of the driver swap, stating that the main problem is in fact the car, not the second driver. The most noticeable storyline throughout Thursday’s meeting though, was the absence of advisor Helmut Marko. The topic of engineering does not concern the Austrian much, as designing cars is not his role within the team. Still, for a meeting that could determine the future course of the team, he would be expected to have an interest in joining.

Why was Marko absent during this meeting? 

It has not come to light why the 81-year-old did not participate in the crisis talks. Rumor has it that the Verstappen camp is currently pushing for Horner’s and Marko’s departure from the team. Even though these men initially got the four-time world champion into the sport in 2015, developments throughout the last year have led to a clash between Marko and Horner, and consequently raised uncertainty and unhappiness for Verstappen. It all kicked off when the team’s lead designer, Adrian Newey, departed Red Bull. The Brit has designed all eight Red Bull cars that were victorious in the driver’s championship. Throughout the 2024 F1 season, it became evident that Red Bull had problems with their car. Newey, however, was no longer at the team’s disposal to design ingenious upgrades. Verstappen had a five-month long streak of not winning a race, stretching from the Spanish Grand Prix until the Brazilian Grand Prix. So far in 2025, it seems these problems have only increased. In the press, these issues were brought up through two different lenses by Marko and Horner respectively. Marko often criticised the team, whereas Horner defended his engineering team. Moreover, Marko’s latest comments on Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson once again initiated controversy in the media. Marko damages Red Bull’s PR and that would be the main reason why Horner would rather see him gone.

Helmut Marko (left) and Christian Horner (right), retrieved from XPBimages.

Why does Verstappen want to see Horner gone along with Marko? 

In short, the aforementioned issues occurred under the management of Christian Horner, and it has taken one too many wrong turns for Red Bull. More importantly to the matter, is a scandal that came to light early on in 2024. Horner was alleged of sexual misconduct with a female colleague. Jos Verstappen, father of Max, was one of the first to act and push for the Brit’s departure at the team. The investigation by Red Bull, however, revealed that the incident did not occur. Still, the storyline kept swinging back and forth until August, as leaks of text messages and numerous appeals occurred, yet were never proven. All in all, it would be an understatement to say that Red Bull’s management is struggling. And for Verstappen, who just wants to race for the title, it would make sense to attempt clearing some of the fuss.

But what about Yuki Tsunoda in Red Bull?

Finally, we get to the exciting part of the story. Ultimately, Formula 1 is all about performance. Considering Liam Lawson has scored zero points in two races and qualified in last position for both the Sprint Race and Grand Prix in China last week, there is no denying his performance was lacking. When Liam was announced to replace Sergio Pérez last year, most people were massively confused about why Red Bull did not sign Tsunoda. Liam had only completed eleven races in Formula 1 back then, whereas Yuki had four full seasons under his belt. The Japanese driver was a slow learner, but he was granted the time to adjust in Red Bull’s sister team, Alpha Tauri. As Alpha Tauri rebranded to Visa Cash App Racing Bulls last year, Yuki consistently outperformed his teammate, Daniel Ricciardo. Later, Ricciardo would be replaced by Liam Lawson. The New Zealander was matching his senior teammate quite well in their races together. Initially, Lawson was chosen by Helmut Marko over Tsunoda due to his age, as he was argued to have great potential. However, only two Grands Prix were granted for Liam to show the potential, which he was unable to do.

Liam Lawson has been demoted to Visa Cash App Racing Bulls due to lacking performances at Red Bull.

Marko admitted he and Red Bull had made a mistake and added: "Tsunoda made a big step. It's strange after four years, now in his fifth year, he is a much stronger personality, he has more confidence and he did two very good races, it's just his strategy didn't work at Racing Bulls.” Tsunoda will get his first feel of the RB21 at his home race in Japan. Concerns are high considering Red Bull’s form and managerial issues. Yet, Tsunoda confidently said he would take the seat as it is a faster car than his old Racing Bulls machine even before the transfer was confirmed. After Red Bull released their statement on the driver swap, the Japanese driver said: “To be honest, I never expected to be racing for Red Bull at the Japanese Grand Prix.” Furthermore, he mentioned being extremely proud about having his first race with the Austrian team at his home circuit: “This is the final year of Red Bull and Honda’s partnership, so getting to race in Suzuka as a Red Bull Racing driver feels like fate. Everything has fallen into place in just the right way for me.”

Tsunoda has the experience, unlike Lawson, and I do hope he will be able to score some points at least. However, the raging storm at Red Bull Racing is hampering the team, it impacts Verstappen who has a car that does not act as he please. Additionally, the Dutchman must deal with the internal clashes of personnel. These same things will undoubtedly impact Red Bull’s new signing. Moreover, he occupies the second Red Bull seat knowing that has had five drivers in seven years. There is an immense pressure on the 24-year-old, and it remains to be seen whether he can firstly deal with that and secondly extract performance from a car that even Max Verstappen is openly criticizing. Especially this critique of the four-time-world champion is something that we have not seen so frequently in the past six years, even though the second Red Bull drivers have been falling like dominoes.