Did Red Bull make the right decision when they replaced Liam Lawson with Yuki Tsunoda just two rounds into the season?
Team principal Christian Horner spoke up in defence of Tsunoda’s performances on Friday at the Circuit de Catalunya. The next day he could only look on as Tsunoda qualified last on the grid for this weekend’s race.
In the meantime Lawson has not exactly been flying after taking over Tsunoda’s seat at Racing Bulls. He has struggled to rival the team’s impressive rookie Isack Hadjar.
But notwithstanding that, Lawson has out-performed the driver who replaced him, at least in qualifying. Over the seven rounds since losing his Red Bull seat, Lawson has now out-qualified Tsunoda 4-3.
The unavoidable conclusion is that only Verstappen has figured out how to get the most out of the Red Bull. So although Hadjar increasingly looks like a strong candidate for promotion to Red Bull, can the team really be all that confident that he’d do a better job than Tsunoda?
Change from practice to qualifying
Racing Bulls showed on Friday they had the pace to reach Q3. But Hadjar was the only one of their drivers to do so, and went on to take ninth on the grid.
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Gaps between team mates
Not for the first time this year, the largest gap between team mates was found at Red Bull. Tsunoda was over half a second slower than Verstappen in Q1, despite saying his final flying lap was largely clean.
Lewis Hamilton out-qualified Charles Leclerc for the first time in six races. This came about partly because Ferrari decided not to give Leclerc a second run in Q3 and instead save more fresh tyres for the race, which they hope will give them a strategic advantage.
That leaves Tsunoda as the driver with the second-longest run of defeats to his team mate in qualifying. However he remains far behind Lance Stroll.
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Team mate battles sequences
Out-qualified team mate
| Rank | Driver | Streak |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fernando Alonso | 21 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | 15 |
| 3 | Isack Hadjar | 4 |
| 4 | Pierre Gasly | 3 |
| = | George Russell | 3 |
| 6 | Alexander Albon | 2 |
| 7 | Gabriel Bortoleto | 1 |
| = | Oliver Bearman | 1 |
| = | Jack Doohan | 1 |
| = | Lewis Hamilton | 1 |
| 11 |
Out-qualified by team mate
| Rank | Driver | Streak |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lance Stroll | 21 |
| 2 | Yuki Tsunoda | 7 |
| 3 | Franco Colapinto | 5 |
| 4 | Liam Lawson | 4 |
| 5 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | 3 |
| 6 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | 2 |
| 7 | Nico Hulkenberg | 1 |
| = | Esteban Ocon | 1 |
| = | Charles Leclerc | 1 |
| = | Lando Norris | 1 |
Q1 and Q3
Eliminated in Q1
| Rank | Driver | Streak |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Franco Colapinto | 2 |
| 2 | Nico Hulkenberg | 1 |
| = | Carlos Sainz Jnr | 1 |
| = | Yuki Tsunoda | 1 |
| = | Esteban Ocon | 1 |
Reached Q3
| Rank | Driver | Streak |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lando Norris | 16 |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | 13 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | 12 |
| 4 | Isack Hadjar | 3 |
| = | Fernando Alonso | 3 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | 2 |
| = | Charles Leclerc | 2 |
| 8 | Pierre Gasly | 1 |
| = | George Russell | 1 |
| = | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | 1 |
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