Liam Lawson on Yuki Tsunoda’s F1 struggles: It doesn’t make it any better for me

Liam Lawson says Yuki Tsunoda’s recent struggles in Red Bull’s Formula 1 car don’t make the situation any better for him.

Lawson was unceremoniously dropped by Red Bull after just two races in the 2025 F1 season and shuffled back to Racing Bulls, with Tsunoda going in the other direction and taking the seat alongside Max Verstappen.

While the driver swap yielded immediate success with Tsunoda adapting quickly to the RB21 to break inside Q3 in qualifying and finish inside the points in Bahrain, the last few weekends have been difficult for the Japanese driver.

At Imola, Tsunoda finished down in 10th place on a day Verstappen beat McLaren’s Oscar Piastri to take an impressive victory. Things went further south in Monaco, with Tsunoda qualifying in 12th place and finishing the race two laps down in 17th.

However, these results don’t provide any respite to Lawson, who maintains that he didn’t get a real opportunity to prove his worth at Red Bull.

“At the end of the day it doesn't really change anything for me as much as I ever really got the chance to show what I was capable of in a Red Bull,” he told reporters including Crash.net in Barcelona.

“It doesn't really change too much. If anybody else struggles in that car, it doesn't affect or change me. It doesn't make it any better for me, obviously.

"So I'm just focused on doing the best job in the car that I'm in, which is what I'm doing at the moment.”

Lawson secured his first points of the 2025 F1 season with an eighth-place finish in the Monaco GP last weekend.

The Kiwi purposefully held up rivals on the streets of Monte Carlo to build a gap for teammate Isack Hadjar to pit twice without losing track position.

These tactics also helped Racing Bulls score a double top 10 result, with Hadjar finishing a season-best sixth.

However, Lawson doesn’t believe his drive in Monaco served as a confidence boost for him, saying: “Honestly, I think my confidence hasn't changed since last year.

“It didn't change at Red Bull and it didn't change the first couple of races in the RB car.

"It's great to score points in Monaco. And maybe it looks like that it gave me a bunch of confidence, that for me hasn't changed.”

Both Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko and team principal Christian Horner have stated that a lack of self-confidence prevented Lawson from extracting the most out of the RB21, which is known to be a tricky car to drive.

However, Lawson reiterated that confidence was never the reason behind his struggles in Australia and China, saying: “That’s not my story.”