Red Bull’s Controversial Driver Swap: Tost Weighs In

Former Racing Bulls team principal Franz Tost has shared his thoughts on Red Bull’s decision to swap Liam Lawson with Yuki Tsunoda, a move that has stirred debate in the Formula 1 community. The switch was made after two race weekends into the 2025 season, with Tsunoda now partnering four-time champion Max Verstappen at Red Bull Racing in front of his home crowd in Japan.

Tost’s Preferred Choice from the Start

In an interview on the Austrian ORF broadcast, Tost, who held the role of team principal at Racing Bulls (previously Toro Rosso, AlphaTauri, and VCARB) from 2006 until the end of 2023, expressed his preference for Tsunoda over Lawson. “I would have gone with Yuki Tsunoda from the start,” he stated. “Yuki is much faster than Lawson. You could give Lawson 100 years, and he still wouldn’t be as fast as Yuki.

Tost further explained that Tsunoda’s speed and experience made him the clear choice for the seat alongside Verstappen. “It’s a very simple decision,” he said. “Yuki has incredible natural speed – I’ve been saying that for years. Now, he just needs to put it all together properly.

ORF reporter Ernst Hausleitner added that there was still an option to let Lawson race in Suzuka, where he is familiar with the track, but Tost argued that raw pace trumped local knowledge in this instance. “Knowing the track is one thing,” he said. “Being fast is another. The decision to put Yuki in the car now was absolutely right, because Liam is simply too slow.

Lawson will now take the seat at Racing Bulls alongside fellow rookie Isack Hadjar and can make the most of the opportunity to develop with the team.

Tsunoda’s Potential for Success

With Tsunoda now in the Red Bull seat, Tost is optimistic about the driver’s potential for success. “If he can now translate that into consistency, perform in the races, and keep his emotions more or less in check, then it’s going to be a very, very good season for Red Bull Racing and for Yuki Tsunoda,” he concluded.