Tsunoda lands dream seat the sport's poisoned chalice

When Yuki Tsunoda was asked at the last race in China whether he would be comfortable stepping up to Red Bull in front of his adoring Japanese fans next week as outlandish a proposition it seemed at the time he did not flinch.

- KIERAN JACKSON

“Yeah, why not, 100 per cent,” he said, salivating at the prospect of a shot at the front of the grid. “The car is faster.” And so, in an unprecedented swap just two rounds into a 24-race season, the popular Japanese driver receives a shot at F1’s poisoned chalice: a seat alongside Max Verstappen.

For Liam Lawson, it’s a gut-wrenchingly brutal decision. This is Red Bull’s stereotypical ruthlessness – the same team which axed the likes of Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon and Nyck de Vries in double-quick time – in an impatient, no-holds-barred overdrive. For what it’s worth, Verstappen is said to be unhappy with Red Bull’s decision.

Unequivocally, it had been a torrid start for Kiwi racer Lawson: three-straight Q1 eliminations (the last two in dead-last), a DNF on debut in Australia and a best-finish of 12th overall. Yet his sights were set optimistically on Suzuka; a track he knows well from a season in Japanese Super Formula in 2023. That would be his chance to flourish.

Astonishingly, he won’t receive that opportunity. Instead, he humiliatingly sets a new F1 driver record: the shortest stint in a full-time seat, beating Japan’s Yuji Ide (who had his FIA super licence revoked due to “not understanding how to use the car”) and his four races for Super Aguri in 2006.

Team principal Christian Horner, alongside Red Bull’s leading decision-makers such as the uninhibited driver programme chief Helmut Marko and parent company managing director Oliver Mintzlaff, made the call in Dubai this week.