F1 fans deliver clear verdict on Tsunoda Red Bull rejection

Red Bull made the wrong decision in promoting Liam Lawson over Yuki Tsunoda, according to a RacingNews365 poll. 

The team opted to promote Kiwi Lawson after just 11 races at Racing Bulls to partner Max Verstappen after Sergio Perez was axed following a dismal season, scoring just 48 points in the final 18 races.

Lawson and Tsunoda were the only candidates considered, but even after a strong Abu Dhabi tyre test for Red Bull, the Japanese racer was still overlooked and will be team leader alongside rookie Isack Hadjar in 2025.

However, according to the results of a poll conducted by RacingNews365 that received nearly 1,700 votes, Red Bull made the wrong decision.

Of the votes cast, 1,033 or 61.60% of people felt Tsunoda should have been promoted instead of Lawson, with 644 votes or 38.40% believing the correct call was made to promote Lawson. 

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Reader comments

Fans were invited to make comments on the poll, with one user questioning why Red Bull did not promote Tsunoda.

“Interesting decision,” wrote OlaJ.

“What do they have against Yuki? Most be something else than results. Perhaps they want to keep him as a stable benchmark against new arrivals in the team?”

Meanwhile, fellow user _Fudd felt Lawson was the “lesser of two evils.”

“Yuki is an even bigger complainer than Lawson,” they wrote.

“They are both complainers. Neither gives good feedback but I guess Lawson is the lesser of two evils, and is probably with better track time.

“Should be interesting to see how they stack up. Guess they messed the timing up, they should have taken Sainz when it was announced his time at Ferrari was up. Perez came with so much financial backing though.”