Amidst Yuki Tsunoda’s Extension, Liam Lawson Handed Massive Boost as Christian Horner Tears Into Daniel Ricciardo

The Red Bull family seems to be in a hurry to finalize their drivers for the 2025 season. Just days after Sergio Perez’s contract extension was confirmed, Yuki Tsunoda’s deal was confirmed by VCARB, leaving only one seat on the junior Red Bull team that needs to be confirmed. Daniel Ricciardo who currently occupies the seat, has been critiqued by Christian Horner, giving a massive boost to Liam Lawson. But what did Horner say?

Many speculations were going around the VCARB seat as neither of the two drivers was confirmed as F1 got into the thick end before the summer break. Yuki Tsunoda was linked to Aston Martin following the Silverstone-based team’s deal with Japanese Engine manufacturer Honda, who also backs Yuki Tsunoda. Regardless, the latest on the Japanese driver has just come out, suggesting that he’ll be driving for VCARB at least for the 2025 season. 

Deservedly, Tsunoda was expected to be resigned as he has outperformed the car this season. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about Daniel Ricciardo, whose only notable result of the season was a P4 at the Miami Sprint. The Australian has struggled otherwise and is nowhere near the performance level of his teammate. Liam Lawson, on the other hand, has a clause in his contract forcing Red Bull to provide him a seat for the 2025 season, or else the New Zealander is free to move to a competitor.

Amid all these developments, Christian Horner came to slam Daniel Ricciardo, asking the VCARB driver to improve his performance if he didn’t want to lose the 2025 seat. Horner said, “He (Daniel) knows that he needs to perform. And, he knows that he hasn’t done enough to warrant a seat in the senior team.” Arguably Liam Lawson will be Red Bull’s choice to replace Ricciardo.

Even Peter Windsor slammed Red Bull for their decision to continue with Ricciardo in 2024 when they had Lawson waiting in line. 

Former Ferrari Boss slams Red Bull for the Daniel Ricciardo decision

Liam Lawson filled in for Daniel Ricciardo for a few races in 2023 when the Australian was injured and impressed everyone by giving Yuki Tsunoda a run for his money. The New Zealander made his mark announcing that he was ready for an F1 seat. Unfortunately, Red Bull gave the seat to the more experienced Ricciardo for 2024, who isn’t really justifying Red Bull’s decision at the moment. Windsor suggested that Liam Lawson should’ve been put in the VCARB seat instead of Ricciardo. 

During his YouTube Live, Peter Windsor said, “You’ve got to say, Red Bull probably missed having a treat by not having Liam Lawson in the car. I don’t want to be disrespectful to Daniel Ricciardo but, putting aside the reality that he’s not there with Yuki apart from one or two occasions, in general, he’s not there, the whole point surely of that team is to bring along the next generation of Red Bull drivers and they’ve had Liam Lawson in the car. Oddly they chose to run Ricciardo for this year. It seems strange because Liam had done enough to prove his ability.”

Who do you think will pair up next to Yuki Taunoda for the 2025 season?