‘Give Lawson 100 years’- Former VCARB boss roasts Liam Lawson after Yuki Tsunoda's promotion

Former Alpha Tauri (Now VCARB) boss Franz Toast has grilled Liam Lawson over his de-promotion to Red Bull. The Austrian team principal was with the junior Red Bull team from 2005 to 2023. Franz was the longest-serving team principal in F1 history. 

Red Bull recently sacked Liam Lawson ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix and demoted him to the VCARB team. This was a shocker because Lawson had just raced two races with the team. The Austrian energy drink manufacturer found no scope in developing the car further with Lawson’s knowledge, so they brought Yuki Tsunoda in for the role of the second driver.

Liam Lawson has no experience compared with Yuki Tsunoda, and last year, after the Singapore Grand Prix, he was brought into a full-time role in F1. Lawson was nowhere near Max Verstappen in the first two races of the 2025 F1 season. So, they decided to promote Yuki Tsunoda for the rest of the season.

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Former RB Bulls boss roasts Liam Lawson

Now, Yuki Tsunoda’s former boss Franz Toast has lashed at Liam Lawson and Red Bull for their bad decision to promote inexperienced Lawson ahead of Tsunoda. Franz said, “I would have gone with Yuki Tsunoda from the start. I said that already- I made it clear last Autumn. Yuki is much faster than Lawson. You could give Lawson 100 years, and he still wouldn't be as fast as Yuki.”

He also credited the Japanese driver's experience in F1 and said it was a simple decision to keep Yuki ahead of Lawson because the New Zealander was too slow. Toast also added, “The right call was made. Yuki has incredible natural speed- I’ve been saying that for years. In terms of raw pace, Yuki absolutely belongs among the best Formula 1 drivers. 

And if he can translate that into consistency, perform in races and keep his emotions more or less in check, then it's going to be a very good season for Red Bull Racing and for Yuki Tsunoda.” The Japanese driver proved immediately by coming sixth just 0.107 seconds behind Max Verstappen. He is predicted to finish inside the top 10 this week.

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