Liam Lawson doubles down on Yuki Tsunoda rivalry: "He's had his time"

Red Bull’s Liam Lawson has fired shots at Yuki Tsunoda ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix, as pressure mounts over who deserves the coveted seat alongside Max Verstappen.

Ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix, Red Bull driver Liam Lawson has delivered an unforgiving statement about Yuki Tsunoda, the Racing Bulls driver gunning for his seat.

In an interview with The Telegraph, he dismissed any idea of sympathy after he was promoted to drive alongside Max Verstappen before Tsunoda, despite a solid season from the Japanese driver in 2024.

"You can't [feel sympathy] in this sport, and anyway, if I look back over our career, I was team-mates with him in F3 and I beat him. In Euroformula I was team-mates with him in New Zealand, and I beat him there," Lawson argued.

"And then in F1 last season, I think honestly, if I look at all the times he got promoted instead of me in those early years, then no. He’s had his time. Now it’s my time.”

His claims here are true. He outscored Tsunoda during their time in the 2019 Euroformula Open championship where they both drove for Motopark. In the New Zealand Toyota Racing Series in 2020, Lawson narrowly missed out on the title while Tsunoda finished fourth. However, the start of his full-time F1 career hasn't followed this trend.

The season opener was a disaster for Lawson, who was eliminated in Q1 and retired from the race due to damage in the wet conditions. China has only been marginally better so far, with the driver starting at the very back of the pack for the sprint race and moving up only six places - all while his much more experienced team-mate Max Verstappen finished in third. Lawson's performance so far this season has failed to validate Red Bull's decision to put him in the leading team.

In contrast, Tsunoda has been delivering top performances, qualifying eighth in Australia and finishing 12th, and finishing 6th in the Chinese sprint.

Yuki Tsunoda, RB F1 Team

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has already admitted that Tsunoda is different now compared to previous seasons.

“Yuki is a different Yuki from the years before," Marko told Motorsport.com. “Obviously he changed his management and so he has a different approach. He's more mature. Took a while, but now it looks [like] it is working.”

This strong showing has led to questions surrounding Lawson's seat, and the idea of putting Tsunoda in the Red Bull seat must be a subject of a few meetings back in Milton Keynes right now. With Marko originally giving Lawson "three to five races" to impress, the clock could be ticking.