Potential all-new Red Bull junior team line-up rumoured for F1 2025 – report

Could Yuki Tsunoda become Max Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate in 2025?

Red Bull’s junior team VCARB could field an all-new driver lineup of Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar for the F1 2025 season, it has been claimed.

And that potential scenario would see Yuki Tsunoda promoted to Red Bull Racing as Sergio Perez’s replacement, with Red Bull reportedly keen to find a new home on the F1 2025 grid for Daniel Ricciardo.

Yuki Tsunoda promoted to Red Bull, Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar to VCARB?

Although Perez signed a new two-year contract as recently as last month, expectation is growing that Red Bull will drop the Mexican in the near future if he is unable to arrest his poor form.

PlanetF1.com reported over the recent British Grand Prix weekend that Perez could be replaced during the F1 2024 campaign, with performance clauses in his revised deal allowing Red Bull to make a change if they see fit.

Long-serving Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko revealed recently that the firm’s shareholders are keen to see the VCARB team return to its Toro Rosso roots as a team to train young talent, increasing speculation that Red Bull reserve driver Lawson could replace the struggling Ricciardo.

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However, a report by German publication Auto Motor und Sport has claimed VCARB could have two new drivers for F1 2025, even though Tsunoda himself signed a new contract as recently as last month’s Canadian Grand Prix.

The contracts of Red Bull-affiliated drivers have long contained a mechanism to allow the company to switch them freely between Red Bull Racing and VCARB, the most memorable example occurring in 2016 when Max Verstappen swapped seats with Daniil Kvyat after the first four races of the season.

It is claimed that Red Bull could employ a similar tactic with Tsunoda, rewarding the Japanese driver with a promotion to the senior team in place of Perez, who has scored just 15 points across the last six races.

That would allow VCARB to promote Lawson, who impressed in a five-race cameo with VCARB (then AlphaTauri) for the injured Ricciardo in mid-2023, registering the team’s best result at that stage of the season with a ninth-place finish in Singapore.

Marko revealed earlier this year that a clause in Lawson’s contract will allow the 22-year-old to walk away from Red Bull entirely if he is not promoted to a permanent seat for F1 2025, with the team’s option on the New Zealander set to expire in September.

A promotion for Lawson may not be the last of Red Bull’s driver changes with Hadjar, the current leader of the F2 standings who drove Perez’s car in opening practice at the British Grand Prix, in contention to replace Ricciardo.

Ricciardo has largely struggled since returning to F1 a year ago, with the 35-year-old registering just three points finishes in 20 grand prix starts.

Although it is claimed that Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, a personal friend of the Australian, is keen to retain him, AMuS report Red Bull are trying to convince other teams to sign Ricciardo for F1 2025.

However, Audi – who will take over the existing Sauber team in F1 2026 and whose F1 entry is being overseen by Andreas Seidl, the team principal of McLaren when Ricciardo’s contract with the Woking-based team was ended prematurely in 2022 – are said to have “shown little interest” in signing Ricciardo.

If Red Bull are ultimately successful in offloading Ricciardo, should they wish to do so, it is said that Hadjar would step up to partner Lawson as Tsunoda becomes Verstappen’s new team-mate.

Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com at the recent Austrian Grand Prix, Ricciardo insisted he has no concerns that he will be left without a seat for F1 2025 if a final decision is communicated to him too late to find a drive elsewhere.

He said: “No, no. I don’t want to be casual about it, because obviously I care a lot, but I don’t know.

“Maybe I’m at a point where it’s just like what will be will be. And I’m just going to put everything I can on the table from an effort and performance [perspective].

“And if that is good enough to secure me a seat, great. If not, then OK. I did everything I could, but…

“I think in terms of the musical chairs stuff, if I get focused on that then I’m [in trouble].I need to put all my attention here. Simple as that.”

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