A curse within a seat? How Red Bull has attempted failure in finding the right second driver

By: Henry Quach

Photo Credit: Formula One

After Visa Cash App Racing Bulls driver Yuki Tsunoda was announced to replace Red Bull driver Liam Lawson for the Japanese Grand Prix, the following question comes to mind: Is there a curse lingering around that seat?

Ever since former F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo left Oracle Red Bull Racing in 2018, Red Bull has tried all sorts of prospects with their junior team. Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, and Liam Lawson were promoted onto the senior team but only had a short stint with tough performances and unfair situations. 

They even tried to go outside of their junior team for Sergio Pérez. He previously performed well, but after a tough 2024 season, he was dropped, sparking rumors that Red Bull only favors Max Verstappen. 

Pierre Gasly drove with Red Bull during the 2019 season. He dreamt of driving with a top-tier team after being promoted from the junior team but felt he couldn’t compete with Verstappen. Gasly wasn’t allowed to make changes to suit his driving style, which angered Red Bull. They would ultimately drop him midway through the season. 

Gasly was then replaced by Alex Albon midway through the 2019 season. Red Bull liked him and felt comfortable that he would’ve been Verstappen’s perfect teammate, but due to the pressure of being with a high-performing team with expectations set by team principal Christian Horner and senior advisor Helmut Marko, he wasn’t competitive with Verstappen either and was replaced by a newly signed Sergio Pérez. 

Pérez joined Red Bull in 2021, after racing for Force India, now known as Aston Martin. He had two successful seasons with the team and was a crucial teammate to Verstappen as he helped Red Bull win two World Constructors' Championships. In 2024, things dramatically changed for Pérez as his performance slowly worsened. He was dropped at the end of the 2024 season. 

Rumors speculated that the car Red Bull produced during the season was troubling for Pérez, but Red Bull didn’t listen to him because Verstappen was consistently earning wins and performing well with the same car. 

After searching throughout the entire off-season, Red Bull decided to promote Lawson to the senior team after replacing Ricciardo. However, he would only last two races after back-to-back bad performances. 

Can Yuki Tsunoda be the driver to break the curse, or will it strike again? As Tsunoda is set to race with the senior team for the rest of the 2025 season, we will find out if it's simply the car or the lack of development that is haunting this team.