Red Bull said on Thursday that Liam Lawson has been axed and replaced by Yuki Tsunoda, confirming days of speculation after disappointing performances in the first two races of the F1 season.
Tsunoda will take over from the New Zealander starting at his home Japanese Grand Prix next week at Suzuka, Red Bull said in a statement.
The 24-year-old Tsunoda moves up from the Racing Bulls (RB) sister team to partner four-time world champion Max Verstappen, with Lawson moving back down to RB, where he was last season.
Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal, said: “It has been difficult to see Liam struggle with the RB21 at the first two races and as a result we have collectively taken the decision to make an early switch.
“We came into the 2025 season with two ambitions, to retain the world drivers’ championship and to reclaim the world constructors’ title, and this is a purely sporting decision.”
Lawson, 23, who was drafted in from RB in the winter to replace Sergio Perez, has endured a miserable start to the season and life at one of the top teams on the grid.
He has been knocked out at the first stage of all three qualifying sessions and has yet to score a point.
Verstappen in the other Red Bull is second in the title race with 36 points, eight behind early season leader Lando Norris of McLaren.
“We have a duty of care to protect and develop Liam, and together we see that after such a difficult start, it makes sense to act quickly so Liam can gain experience, as he continues his F1 career with Racing Bulls, an environment and a team he knows very well,” Horner added.
Tsunoda has shown pace on both race weekends of the season.
He was 12th in the season opener at Melbourne and only finished out of the points on Sunday at Shanghai because of RB’s flawed two-stop pit strategy.
Tsunoda made his Formula 1 debut with AlphaTauri in 2021, becoming the first Japanese driver on the grid since Kamui Kobayashi in 2014.
“We acknowledge there is a lot of work to be done with the RB21 and Yuki’s experience will prove highly beneficial in helping to develop the current car,” said Horner.
“We welcome him to the team and are looking forward to seeing him behind the wheel of the RB21.”
Tsunoda started racing karts at the age of four in his native Kanagawa, just outside Tokyo.
He stands just 1.61 metres tall (5ft 3in) and his diminutive frame forced AlphaTauri engineers to develop a made-to-measure pedal kit to make him feel more comfortable in the cockpit.
Tsunoda used to be known for his four-letter outbursts on the team radio but displayed a new-found sense of self-control last year, and it helped his performances.
Away from racing, he tries to relax by snowboarding and playing video games, which he describes as “training” for keeping his cool on the track.
“His progress last year, and more recently from the very start of 2025, has been nothing less than sensational,” Laurent Mekies, team principal of RB, said in a statement Thursday.