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Horner answere Photograph: (Instagram)
Red Bull has officially announced that their next driver will be Liam Lawson, who will replace Sergio Perez in 2025 and join Max Verstappen. This wasn't a surprise, as there were a lot of speculations and unofficial news regarding the Austrian team signing the New Zealander.
But many fans questioned Lawson’s signing and asked, Is Lawson the right choice to be there at Red Bull? The reason for their anger was that Red Bull already had an established and performing driver, Yuki Tsunoda, waiting for his opportunity to join the team.
Yuki Tsunoda is a Japanese driver backed by Honda Group, Red Bull's engine partners, and Yuki has been a part of their junior team VCARB since the 2021 season. Many fans are questioning the team's decision to give a chance to a driver who only raced 11 races for the team over another driver who raced more than 80 races.
Christian Horner answers
For all their questions Red Bull Team principal Christian Horner has given his reasons for signing Liam Lawson over Yuki Tsunoda. He says the decision to choose Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson for the Red Bull seat was very tight.
Horner was also very impressed with Yuki Tsunoda’s speed and tire management during the post-season test in Abu Dhabi, and the engineers were also very impressed with him. But Liam Lawson’s race and pace analytics are better than Tsunoda's having raced only 11 races in F1.
π¨ Christian Horner on why they chose Lawson over Tsunoda
β RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) December 19, 2024
"It was very, very tight between the two of them. Yuki is a very fast driver. He's got three or four seasons of experience now. He did a very good job in the tyre test for us in Abu Dhabi where the engineers were⦠pic.twitter.com/ACH9yqm6hE
According to Horner, Lawson has the mental resilience and toughness that stood for him to go with Liam. He says he was impressed with Liam Lawson when he raced against Max Verstappen in Zandvoort when he came as a replacement for the injured Daniel Ricciardo. He also credited Liam Lawson for having no fear of going wheel-to-wheel racing and even rubbing wheels when necessary. But he was also very happy to have Yuki Tsunoda as a standby driver whenever he required.
Many fans don't agree with Horner, as they see Honda parting ways with Red Bull in 2026 as the biggest reason for Red Bull not signing Yuki Tsunoda. They also feel Yuki is calm and composed and knows what he does. Formula 1 champions don't always need to be aggressive like Max Verstappen. They can also be calm like Lewis Hamilton and win 7 world titles.
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