Yuki Tsunoda is the latest driver tasked with being Max Verstappen’s team-mate at Red Bull Racing after Liam Lawson was removed from the seat after only two races
Helmut Marko has said Yuki Tsunoda will be given the rest of the current Formula 1 season to prove himself after Red Bull’s dramatic driver swap. Just two rounds into the new campaign, the Japanese has been parachuted in as Max Verstappen’s latest team-mate after Liam Lawson flopped.
Lawson was chosen over the more experienced Tsunoda to fill the seat vacated by Sergio Perez at the end of last season. However, the Kiwi failed to score a single point across the opening two rounds of the new campaign, prompting Red Bull chiefs to take swift action.
Tsunoda has been promoted and Lawson told he will be returning to junior team Racing Bulls. The swap is effective immediately and each driver will race for their respective new teams at the Japanese Grand Prix on April 6.
Given Red Bull’s ruthless record and how quick they were to axe Lawson, fears have been raised over what will happen to Tsunoda if he also struggles. But young driver chief Marko insists the Japanese racer will be given more time than his predecessor.
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He told BBC Radio 5 Live that Tsunoda will get “until the end of the season” to prove that he is the ideal team-mate to Verstappen going forward. “We believe he can do the job,” the Austrian 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. In this case, a very difficult car experience is something that will help. That was our thoughts.”
Lawson’s confidence was shot after his failure to adapt quickly to Red Bull’s difficult-to-drive RB21 car and that, Marko went on to say, was the driving force behind the decision to swap drivers so early in the year. He also conceded that he and team principal Christian Horner had “made a mistake” by not choosing Tsunoda in the first place.
He said: “His performance was unfortunately not good enough and that comes from self-confidence. We were worried that his self-confidence is so damaged that he couldn’t bring his normal performance. He is not kicked out of F1 and Racing Bulls will give him the chance to recover and his career will start again.
“He goes back to Racing Bulls, which has a car capable to be top 10 in qualifying and the race. The RB21 is a car which is not the fastest car but nevertheless very difficult to drive and Max can handle but not at this stage Liam.”
Many have questioned why free agent Carlos Sainz was not signed last season, which was put to Marko during the interview. He replied: “In hindsight it is always easy to say but when he was available it was a different situation with Red Bull Racing. In the beginning of the year, Sergio Perez finished second twice and was performing and it just came later that Sergio had problems with the car and his performance dropped.”
