Top 3 F1 drivers in danger of getting fired after the 2025 season

The 2025 F1 season holds different degrees of importance for different drivers. For some, this season is important for their legacy. For others, this is a chance to win their first title. For some, however, it's all about survival

Not every driver heads into the 2025 F1 season full of hope and optimism. There are quite a few who know that their careers are at stake and a poor run could cost them their future in the sport.

As we head into the new season, there are a few drivers who risk getting fired by the end of the year. Let's take a look.

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#3 Yuki Tsunoda (V-Ca-RB)

The cat is more or less out of the bag by the looks of it at Red Bull, as the team signing Liam Lawson over Yuki Tsunoda, even if the performance indicators stated otherwise, was a clear indication of how much the Honda affiliation has played a role in making this call.

The Japanese driver has been part of the sister Red Bull team since his F1 debut in 2021. That's the longest any driver has stayed with the team, and as is often the case, this doesn't happen if the team wants to ultimately promote you to the top seat.

The Honda partnership ends at the end of 2025, and when that happens, it does appear that the obligation to field a Japanese driver also goes out of the window for Red Bull, and V-Ca-RB can go back to being the sister team. If that's the case, it's highly likely that the Austrian team finally calls time on the partnership with Yuki Tsunoda, and the driver has to find a new home.

Unless, of course, Yuki destroys F1 rookie Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson dramatically fails at Red Bull, opening the door for the Japanese driver to be Max Verstappen's teammate.

If just like Sergio Perez, Liam is unable to do that and succumbs to the pressure, we might be looking at a scenario where Red Bull swaps the Kiwi for Isack Hadjar mid-season or, by the end of the year, it targets some of the more established talents in F1.

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#2 Jack Doohan (Alpine F1)

If we try to read between the lines from Alpine's Flavio Briatore, it's clear as day that the Australian is on borrowed time at the French outfit. It's almost as if Jack Doohan has not been the first choice but one that the team made because of a lack of alternatives.

When something like that happens, the team is already looking for options, and with Franco Colapinto already catching the attention of Flavio and Paul Aron, the new junior also in the reckoning, Jack Doohan is almost there on borrowed time.

In terms of talent, Doohan is not short of putting together something brilliant. He's shown already that the driver can do a good job behind four wheels, and his record in F2 is a testament to that. But if a young driver is just cornered in a manner where he's under pressure before a lap is done, then that's not how you nurture a talent.

If the Australian doesn't hit the ground running on day 1, we're looking at someone getting a treatment similar to what Mick Schumacher did at Haas.

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#1 Liam Lawson (Red Bull Racing)

Liam Lawson got the biggest news of his racing career when Christian Horner told him that he would be a Red Bull driver in 2025. The good thing for Lawson is he's got a chance to show what he can do in the car. The bad thing for Lawson is that the situation could not be any more against him.

The Kiwi is a brilliant prospect and has shown that he can hang with a lot of the top contenders in F1. The problem is that he's going to Red Bull, a team where every penny is spent on making sure Max Verstappen wins the title. The car is developed to suit his style, and the team is run in a manner that works for him.

To add to this, Max Verstappen is the benchmark in F1, and if a driver is this good and you tilt the other intangibles in his favor, it becomes very hard for the teammate to do a good job. The 2025 season is going to be even harsher for Liam because this is the season where all teams are potentially going to be very close to each other in terms of performance, and Red Bull would need everything from the Kiwi.