Red Bull Could Replace Driver Liam Lawson, With Millions on the Line

The second Formula One race of the season concluded over the weekend, and there’s already a potential shake-up happening at Red Bull.

The team is considering dropping Liam Lawson, the 23-year-old driver who has failed to score through the first two races in Australia and China, according to ESPN. Lawson entered this season as a replacement for Sergio Pérez after the latter’s struggles last year led to Red Bull falling to third in the constructors’ championship despite Max Verstappen winning the drivers’ championship for the fourth time in a row.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner didn’t confirm any decision following the race in China but didn’t rule out a change. “We’ve just finished this race. We’re going to take away the info and have a good look at it,” Horner said.

The decision on Lawson’s future is reportedly expected in the coming days.

Red Bull is third in the championship with 36 points—all from Verstappen—behind McLaren (78 points) and Mercedes (57 points). 

An Eight-Figure Decision

It’s unclear exactly how much teams earn from prize money at the end of the Formula One season, but Sky Sports reported the purse is about 50% of F1’s commercial-rights revenue every year. Red Bull reportedly earned around $140 million for winning the constructors’ title in 2023, with each team below receiving about $9 million to $10 million less than the team above it.

With 22 races left on the 2025 calendar, there is time for Red Bull to catch the leaders. However, Lawson has not come close to a points finish and has failed to make it out of the first round of qualifying through two weekends, including finishing P20 in China.

The likely replacement for Lawson would be Yuki Tsunoda, the lead driver of the Racing Bulls, Red Bull’s junior team. Tsunoda, who could reportedly unseat Lawson by the Japanese Grand Prix—his home race—in two weeks, is in his fifth season with the Racing Bulls. He was a candidate to replace Pérez but lost out to Lawson.

Tsunoda has scored three points this season, all coming from a sixth-place finish at the sprint race in China. But he has qualified in the top 10 in all of the races so far this year, outqualifying Lawson in each of them despite running in the supposedly slower car. Tsunoda has said he’s “100%” ready for the promotion to Red Bull. 

The second seat at Red Bull has been a revolving door as the team has had five drivers sit next to Verstappen since he joined the team full-time in 2017. Pérez’s four-year run was the longest stretch of any of the drivers.

McLaren Stays on Top, Same Old Ferrari

After winning the constructors’ title last year for the first time since 1998, McLaren has started the 2025 season on top. A McLaren driver has won each of the first two races, capped off by a 1–2 finish in China.

Ferrari looked poised to be McLaren’s biggest challenger entering this season, especially after the addition of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. However, Ferrari sits in a tie with midfield team Williams Racing at fourth after both its drivers were disqualified in the Chinese GP for their cars breaching regulations—continuing a recent trend of costly blunders by the team.

The Scuderia lost 18 points due to the disqualification. It lost last year’s title to McLaren by 14 points.