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Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko addressed why Liam Lawson was picked over Yuki Tsunoda to be Max Verstappen's teammate in 2025. Speaking in a recent interview, the Red Bull veteran stated that Tsunoda's lack of consistency was the key behind the team's decision to pick Lawson over him.
After Red Bull parted ways with Sergio Perez at the end of 2024, confusion and chaos surrounded the F1 fraternity regarding the second Red Bull seat. As much as it was a prized possession for an F1 driver, it was also very tricky given how 'tough' it was to drive the second Red Bull.
Ultimately, Red Bull cleared the air and announced a less experienced Liam Lawson alongside the four-time world champion for the 2025 season. This came as a shock for some as the Japanese driver had way more experience in the sport than the new recruit.
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While fans and experts scrambled their heads to find out the answer, Red Bull had their reasons. Speaking about it in a recent interview with Kleine Zeitung, Red Bull's long-time advisor, Marko said:
"For a long time, Yuki had the image of not performing consistently and making silly mistakes here and there. That's what happened last year in Mexico, where the decisive phase for us began.
"With Lawson, it was the exact opposite at first: he came on and delivered straight away, no matter how great the pressure was. In retrospect, however, it wasn't the right decision," he further added.
As Marko already said, the decision 'wasn't right,' so Red Bull did its best to undo the damage. Just after two races, where Lawson heavily underperformed, the Christian Horner-led team backtracked on its decision and put Yuki Tsunoda to Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen.
Adrian Newey played instrumental part in Yuki Tsunoda's decision, claimed Marko
During his interview with Kleine Zeitung, Helmut Marko also revealed that Adrian Newey played an instrumental part in blocking Yuki Tsunoda from moving to Red Bull. Speaking about this, he shared an incident that enraged Newey and said:
"At Silverstone, Tsunoda once drove into Pierre Gasly's car, and parts of the cars on the track damaged the underbody of Verstappen's car, which cost him the race. Adrian Newey was furious at the time. From that point on, Yuki was a red rag to him. But now Newey is gone, and Yuki has worked hard on himself."
Last year, Adrian Newey parted ways with Red Bull and signed for rivals Aston Martin. As a result, with Newey no longer in the team, Red Bull put Tsunoda beside Verstappen to make him the Dutchman's third teammate in four races.
