Paddock veteran issues damning indictment about Red Bull as Liam Lawson-Yuki Tsunoda swap becomes official

F1 pundit David Croft believed that Red Bull do not have as many talented drivers in junior programs as they used to after swapping Yuki Tsunoda for Liam Lawson after two races into the 2025 season. The Austrian team shocked the world of motorsport after they announced that Lawson would be vacating the seat alongside Max Verstappen and would be demoted to Visa Cash App Racing Bulls for the remainder of the season.

The Kiwi driver joined the former world champions at the end of the 2024 season replacing Sergio Perez after the season finale in Abu Dhabi. However, the 23-year-old found himself in a similar predicament as the Mexican after he underperformed in the first two races in Australia and China.

Speaking with Sky Sports, the F1 commentator reflected on the current state of Red Bull's junior driver program and said:

"They had, at one time, the best driver development program on the planet, but maybe they signed too many drivers, and then they had to offload them because they couldn't find spaces for all of them, and now, they probably haven't got that conveyor belt of talent coming through and ready for a seat with the top teams at this particular time."

Croft also believed that the Milton-Keynes-based outfit had taken its "eye off the ball" given the frequency of changes coinciding with its car troubles, adding:

"Someone said to me the other day, have they taken their eye off the ball? And it was a bad joke, but they probably have. They have jettisoned a whole heap of drivers. Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly, and Daniel Ricciardo came and went, and then came and went again. Sergio Perez was brought in and then jettisoned at the end of last season because his performances just weren't up to it."

Liam Lawson only had 11 races under his belt before he was promoted to Red Bull at the end of the 2024 season.

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Former Red Bull junior sympathizes with Liam Lawson's predicament

Former Red Bull junior driver Jaime Alguersuari stated that he believed that the Kiwi was not "as bad as he looked" on the track in the first two races of the 2025 season.

Speaking with F1.com, the former Toro Rosso driver said:

“Liam is not as bad as he looks. You could expect that he was going to struggle at the beginning of the season, and he wouldn’t have been as bad as the season went by. You can’t be a hero and then [become] the worst driver in one or two races.”

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko recently confirmed that Yuki Tsunoda would be in the RB21 for the entire season with Liam Lawson driving the VCARB02 in his bid to rebuild his confidence.