Liam Lawson goes belligerent in direct attack against Yuki Tsunoda

Liam Lawson did not hold back from getting into a verbal attack on Yuki Tsunoda, his former teammate at Racing Bulls. Lawson, who is at risk of getting replaced at Red Bull by Tsunoda as early as the upcoming Japanese GP, stood his ground and claimed he was better than the Japanese in junior categories.

Lawson had the worst possible start to his 2025 season with Red Bull after the Kiwi driver failed to score a single point in two races and sprint. In the season-opener race in Australia, Lawson qualified in 18th place and was out in Q1. In the race, he faced a DNF after suffering a technical issue.

In China, Lawson qualified in 20th place for the sprint and finished in 14th. The main race qualifying wasn't any better for the New Zealander with another P20, and then P12 in the race. As a result, he failed to claim a single point for Red Bull and help them in the Constructors' Championship.

After two back-to-back disastrous outings, rumors around the paddock are strong that Red Bull might call in Tsunoda to replace Lawson alongside Max Verstappen. Addressing the rumors and Tsunoda, Lawson shared his thoughts, and here's what he said:

"I've raced him [Yuki Tsunoda] for years, raced him in junior categories and beat him – and I did in F1 as well, so he can say whatever he wants." (As per Autosport.)

Meanwhile, Yuki Tsunoda has had a bright start to his season. The Racing Bulls driver qualified for the main race in Australia in P5 and came home in the race in P12. In the sprint in China, be qualified in P8, and then finished the Sprint race in P6.

The main race qualifying was also supreme for the Japanese driver, with P9 to his name. However, Tsunoda failed to capitalize on it due to a miscalculated strategy by his team and a broken wing that took away his advantage.

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Did Liam Lawson actually beat Yuki Tsunoda in all racing series, including F1?

While fact-checking Liam Lawson's statements against Yuki Tsunoda, it was found that the New Zealander was partially true in his statements. While he indeed beat the Japanese in the lower racing series, he did not speak the whole truth as he was far from superior in F1.

Liam Lawson (L) of Red Bull, Oscar Piastri (C) of McLaren and Yuki Tsunoda (R) of RB attend press conference - Source: Getty

As per statistics, Lawson beat Tsunoda in the 2019 EuroFormula Open Championship where he finished in second place, compared to Tsunoda's fourth. He also had an edge over Tsunoda in the 2020 Toyota Racing Series, where he finished runner-up yet again, against Tsunoda's fourth place.

However, in F1, Yuki Tsunoda had a massive advantage over Liam Lawson. In their 11 outings together as teammates at Racing Bulls, the Japanese beat the Kiwi by a 10-1 margin in terms of qualifying (excluding sprint qualifying).