This forum contains threads to discuss teams themselves. Anything not technical about the cars, including restructuring, performances etc belongs here.
Why on earth would Red Bull want a driver that could challenge Max ? Especially one like Sainz, who has a few races each season that are exceptional. Those races can take points or wins away from Max, and in a close battle could be vital.
Just look at Carlos vs Charles in '24. Charles beat him comfortably in the end, but those few races where Sainz was very good ended up being the difference between 2nd and 3rd in the WDC for Charles, who was finishing the next position behind Sainz in most of those races.
Lawson was probably told to go prove himself this year, show some fire. He did that. For 2025 he will be told to bring the car home safely in the points every race, and he will most likely do just that.
I don't think Max's contract allows the team to let anyone to seriously challenge him.
Why on earth would Red Bull want a driver that could challenge Max ? Especially one like Sainz, who has a few races each season that are exceptional. Those races can take points or wins away from Max, and in a close battle could be vital.
If Max does decide to leave for Mercedes (or goes off to do other motorsport), then RedBull need a driver ready to challenge for wins and titles. It remains to be seen if Liam can be that, but there is only one way to find out.
Max will likely take this in his stride.
Just look at Carlos vs Charles in '24. Charles beat him comfortably in the end, but those few races where Sainz was very good ended up being the difference between 2nd and 3rd in the WDC for Charles, who was finishing the next position behind Sainz in most of those races.
That's the ebb and flow of the battle between teammates. I'm sure it will be more acute for Charles if he faces a motivated Lewis in the other Ferrari. But for us fans? It should provide some real entertainment.
Lawson was probably told to go prove himself this year, show some fire. He did that. For 2025 he will be told to bring the car home safely in the points every race, and he will most likely do just that.
They will want him on the podium or as close to the podium as possible. Settling for just being in the points isn't the way to win a constructor title. Especially if Max is facing stiff competition from Charles, Lewis, Lando and Oscar etc.
Liam goes into a bit more detail about how he got signed for Redbull in this interview.
But on what basis can we judge Yuki is as bad as you say.
I already made the argument for this in both my posts. :/ In what way was it unclear? I'm not gonna repeat myself cuz you're not reading what I'm saying.
I also never claimed he was bad, just an uninspired pick for one of the top spots in the sport. He's done absolutely nothing to really deserve it. Not that Lawson has either, but that was again my whole point. Red Bull's options if they insisted on picking from their own junior 'talent pool' were very lackluster. First time that's been the case in a very long time.
The problem: Red Bull team boss Christian Horner had deleted a performance clause in Perez's new contract, which ran until the end of 2025, and this now came back to haunt him. Red Bull therefore had to pay Perez a severance payment. According to F1-Insisder.com research, this is said to be around 15 million euros.
Red Bull chief advisor Helmut Marko (81) to F1-Insider.com : "The engineers presented comparative figures, which we used as the basis for the decision. In principle, it was a luxury problem; both would have deserved the promotion. But Lawson may have more room for improvement in the future. His mental strength in particular was the deciding factor in the end."
I feel a bit irritated by some who say driver A deserves it more than driver B and criticize Red Bull for the decision. Red Bull can choose any driver they believe is their best choice. For every decision the team takes, counter arguments can be found.
My opinion:
Liam: a bit of an unknown, we will see
Yuki: until now, not a single podium or pole at a chaos-weekend (at a normal weekend it's more or less impossible nowadays to score a podium or pole for a midfield team driver)
Checo: a disappointing performance in the last couple of months where it's also not guaranteed whether he finds his mojo again or not
The problem: Red Bull team boss Christian Horner had deleted a performance clause in Perez's new contract, which ran until the end of 2025, and this now came back to haunt him. Red Bull therefore had to pay Perez a severance payment. According to F1-Insisder.com research, this is said to be around 15 million euros.
Red Bull chief advisor Helmut Marko (81) to F1-Insider.com : "The engineers presented comparative figures, which we used as the basis for the decision. In principle, it was a luxury problem; both would have deserved the promotion. But Lawson may have more room for improvement in the future. His mental strength in particular was the deciding factor in the end."
Sergio Perez now has no way of fulfilling one of the rumoured performance clauses in his Red Bull contract.
The Mexican driver is facing an uncertain few weeks as his disappointing run of form means he can no longer reach the F1 summer break within 100 points of Max Verstappen in the drivers' standings.
RacingNews365 understands this is one of the stipulations laid out in his recently-extended deal with the Milton Keynes team.
To make matters worse for the Mexican, another one of his rumoured contract clauses is that he must be within five places of his team-mate in the drivers' championship come the summer break.
My opinion:
Liam: a bit of an unknown, we will see
Yuki: until now, not a single podium or pole at a chaos-weekend (at a normal weekend it's more or less impossible nowadays to score a podium or pole for a midfield team driver)
.
I assume you know the VCARB01 is a bad car. With every update the car got worse and worse, but Yuki managed it to
drove a 3rd place in the Brazilian qualification! A 3rd place!! He always qualified good until the car was very bad at the end.
In Brazil the two Alpine drivers were very good and became 2nd and 3rd otherwise Yuki was almost a podium contender.
Oh and btw VCARB has still a veeery bad strategist. Only 2 or 3 races the strategy was good the last few years.
Any idea if Liam Lawson contract with RBR is just for 1 year or its a multi year contract?
I think he will do well in RB and hopefully he will have opportunities to make things difficult for Max.
Like all Red Bull juniors I imagine he has a multiple year contract with red bull that enables him to be moved between the sister and parent team at will
I think many people here don't know that Honda told Red Bull that if Yuki wants to race with them, Honda will break all contracts with Tsunoda and Yuki will become a 100% Red Bull driver.
Honda just wanted to see a Japanese driver in a good team. I hope I don't read "he's a Honda driver" again.
My opinion:
Liam: a bit of an unknown, we will see
Yuki: until now, not a single podium or pole at a chaos-weekend (at a normal weekend it's more or less impossible nowadays to score a podium or pole for a midfield team driver)
.
I assume you know the VCARB01 is a bad car. With every update the car got worse and worse, but Yuki managed it to
drove a 3rd place in the Brazilian qualification! A 3rd place!! He always qualified good until the car was very bad at the end.
In Brazil the two Alpine drivers were very good and became 2nd and 3rd otherwise Yuki was almost a podium contender.
Oh and btw VCARB has still a veeery bad strategist. Only 2 or 3 races the strategy was good the last few years.
That's why I mentioned the "chaos-weekend" where things like Magnussen's pole in Brazil 2022 or Gasly's win in Monza 2020 with AlphaTauri can happen.
Interesting that Lawson describes the current red bull car as "very, very aggressive" in terms of its handling characteristics in one of his recent interviews
Honda is very upset, that this partnership didn't result in Yuki driving for the main team. Horner is the spiteful husband after the divorce. He will pay for this.
How do you imagine this? Verstappen's engines will burn out, and Tsunoda will take the title while driving for a junior team? Your impotent anger is simply ridiculous! Red Bull is not obliged to take Tsunoda, just because Honda supplied them with engines. In 4 years of performances, Tsunoda has not shown anything outstanding, he is an ordinary pilot of the average group. Accept it.
