Liam Lawson said driving a Red Bull is “more different than I think people would expect”, compared to a Racing Bulls car.

Lawson’s place at Red Bull is already under scrutiny after only two races in 2025, with PlanetF1.com understanding Yuki Tsunoda is set to replace him at the team ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, with news expected on the team’s decision later in the week.

Liam Lawson: ‘Little things make a massive difference’ between Red Bull and VCARB cars

Having struggled in the opening two rounds of 2025, qualifying P20 in both the Sprint and the Grand Prix in Shanghai at the weekend, Lawson’s seat is believed to be under threat ahead of the next round in Japan.

Reigning World Champion Max Verstappen posited the theory that Lawson would potentially be driving faster than he is in his Red Bull if he was behind the wheel with the sister team’s car, but speaking ahead of the season, the New Zealander explained that although the team has gone through efforts to make it “easier to drive”, the Red Bull remains “very different” from Racing Bulls in how it handles.

When asked how the RB21 compared to its predecessors, having had experience of those cars in testing, Lawson replied on a recent episode of the Beyond the Grid podcast: “It’s definitely not the same. They’re all evolutions of each other, so it’s just an evolution of last year.

“It’s similar, but we’re trying to make the car faster, and we’re trying to make it easier to drive – and it does feel better to drive.

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“Obviously, for me as well, I’ve come from a car that wasn’t a Red Bull Racing car, so that had its own sort of unique characteristics, and this car’s actually quite different to drive.

“For me, it’s very different because I haven’t raced a Red Bull car before, so although I tested it, it’s not what I’m used to. So in a lot of ways, it’s going to be new for me.”

When asked just how different it is to drive a Red Bull compared to the sister team’s machine, Lawson revealed that the difference in aerodynamic setup makes for an altered driving experience between the two cars, even when changing minute details.

“It’s very different, honestly,” he said.

“It’s more different than I think people would expect.

“Little things make a massive difference, and the two cars, they have the same sort of steering wheel, same power unit and stuff like that, same suspension. But aero wise, it’s very, very different – and Formula 1 is basically about aero, so it’s, it is very, very different to drive.”

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