Former Red Bull Racing Formula One driver Sergio Pérez has supported the arrival of Yuki Tsunoda in the team, ahead of this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix. Newsweek Sports reported that Red Bull replaced Liam Lawson with Tsunoda after judging his performance in the first two race weekends of the 2025 season. According to Pérez, Tsunoda has the “speed” and “mentality” to become a Red Bull driver.

The Mexican driver was replaced by Lawson after the 2024 season due to underperformance that contributed to Red Bull’s loss of the Constructors’ Championship. Pérez faced immense pressure last year.

However, he has now revealed how even competitive drivers are unable to cope with Red Bull’s F1 cars, as evidenced by Lawson’s experience, who managed just two races before being demoted to Racing Bulls, Red Bull’s junior team. Pérez pointed out that during his time at Red Bull, it was tough for people to guess how difficult the 2024 RB20 was to drive, but Lawson’s Red Bull exit has highlighted the challenge well. He told F1:

“Especially last year, I didn’t get to show what I’m able to do as a driver. Now, all of a sudden, people realise how difficult the car is to drive.

“When I joined Red Bull, there had been great drivers who had struggled – Alex [Albon], Pierre [Gasly], they are fantastic drivers and they struggled.

“I spent so long in Red Bull that everyone forgot how difficult the car is to drive, so that was tricky.

“I feel like that if there is a project that makes sense to me – and also with the regulations changing for 2026 – I feel like taking a year out won’t have any impact if I were to come back.”

Despite the challenges and setbacks, Pérez stressed that he wants Red Bull to do well. He also supported Tsunoda, saying that he has the right mentality to succeed in the team, although Tsunoda was initially rejected for a promotion to Red Bull over Lawson last year. Pérez added:

“I really want the team to do well, as I have a lot of friends at the team. I spent four years with them and I want to see them doing well. It’s just a very hard thing to talk about.

“Right now, I’m on the outside, I’ve been in touch with some team members there – but when you’re not there internally, it’s hard to know [what’s happening].

“For me, it was very simple, the car is just quite difficult to get 100% out of it, to get the confidence out of it – and the things I struggled with, even Adrian [Newey, the team’s former design chief] talked about them.

“But I want to wish them the best. Woody, who is a great friend of mine, is engineering Yuki now so I really hope they do well.

“Yuki has the talent, has the speed and, more than that, you need the mentality to cope with it. I think he has the right mentality and the right attitude to cope with it. I hope they will succeed.”