Marko explains: 'Deciding factor in choosing Lawson for Red Bull promotion'

It did not come as a surprise, Liam Lawson is Max Verstappen's new teammate at Red Bull Racing, much to the dismay of Yuki Tsunoda who also had serious chances to become Sergio Perez's successor. Nevertheless, the Japanese ended up losing out to his teammate at Racing Bulls. Helmut Marko explains why to F1-Insider.

The Red Bull Racing Chief Advisor, Dr. Marko, is who comes up with the driver lineups for both teams within the Red Bull group. The Austrian prides himself in selecting talents from his own training program to be part of the Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls squads. For 2025, though, he and team boss Christian Horner, had to make a difficult decision: Who's getting the bump up to the big team Lawson or Tsunoda?

'Difference between Lawson and Tsunoda very small'

Eventually, as it was expected, Lawson got the thumbs up. "The engineers presented similar figures that we used as a basis for the decision," Marko explained. "Basically, it was a luxury problem; both deserved the promotion. But Lawson may have more room for improvement in the future. Especially his mental strength was the deciding factor in the end," according to the Austrian team's advisor.

Lawson, with only 11 Grand Prix to his name, one might argue is relatively inexperienced, particularly when Tsunoda is set to start his fifth season in Formula One. In an earlier part of the interview, Marko revealed Tsunoda's reaction to the news of being passed up for the promotion with relative calm.

This article was written in collaboration with Ludo van Denderen