Lawson ‘already out’ for next F1 race – Schumacher

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Wild rumours are raging from within the F1 paddock that New Zealander Liam Lawson (23) has already completed his final race weekend for Red Bull. However, former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher told Sky Deutschland that Tsunoda should still reject the vacant Lawson race seat.

“Liam Lawson is already out for the next race. And Yuki Tsunoda will replace him. It hasn’t been confirmed yet, but that’s how it is. Moreover, Lawson will then go back to Racing Bulls, where he’s supposed to build himself up again,” said Schumacher.

END FOR LIAM LAWSON AT RED BULL?

Just two weekends into his F1 season with Red Bull, Liam Lawson (23) looks like set to be demoted back to the Racing Bulls sister team. Image: F1

Tsunoda declared in China, where Lawson was the slowest driver throughout the entire weekend, that he was 100% ready to replace the stricken New Zealander. The Japanese driver also said he was confident he would be faster in the same car. “He can say whatever he wants. I’ve been racing him for years, I’ve beaten him in junior categories and I’ve done it in F1, too,” said a downcast Lawson at the end of his Chinese GP weekend.

Red Bull team management will get together this week – reportedly Thursday – to discuss what to do about the problematic RB21 car, and Liam Lawson. “There’s a meeting in Milton-Keynes this week where we’ll discuss when and how we can close this gap. We’re worried, but we’re not giving up,” said Red Bull advisor Dr. Helmut Marko.

CHAOS AT RED BULL

Sergio Perez of Mexico was forced out of the team last year due to lack of performance. Image: Mark Thompson/Red Bull Content Pool

However, Schumacher thinks the difficult car is symptomatic of an F1 team in crisis. “It’s pure chaos at Red Bull at the moment. Not only is the main team too slow, they’re also swapping drivers around like a charade. Above all, it’s just incredibly bad from a management perspective. They’re destabilising a good Racing Bulls team, which is finally doing well with both drivers, and in my opinion, they’re just going to burn out Tsunoda as well, who has no chance against Max Verstappen,” Schumacher said.

“Certainly if I was Tsunoda’s management, I wouldn’t recommend him going there. Christian Horner acknowledges that the 2025 Red Bull is particularly hard to drive, so any replacement for Lawson will be just as likely to struggle,” concluded Schumacher. – with GMM