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Unfair that Lawson was dropped: 'But Yuki will be closer to Max'

09:00, 29 Mar

byNorberto Mujica

Former Red Bull talent, Jaime Alguersuari has commented on Yuki Tsunoda taking Liam Lawson's place at Red Bull Racing ahead of the F1 Japanese Grand Prix, and he 'prime' Tsunoda could be closer to Max Verstappen.

Speaking to Formula 1, Alguersuari is confident Tsunoda can do a better job at Red Bull Racing than Lawson did in the first two races, and coming in as the dark horse, having been passed over for a promotion to the Austrian team last year, the pressure on the Japanese driver's shoulders should be considerably less.

"I think Yuki has nothing to lose. The benchmark of doing a better job is quite easy for him, in a way that nobody is really expecting that much from him.

"Yuki got better step by step and now he’s a very solid driver, getting the maximum out of his car. Last year, he did a great test for Red Bull in Abu Dhabi, and they didn't give him the seat.

"Now it's switched and I would say, if I were him, knowing that probably he is in his prime… I wouldn't feel like there’s so much pressure on me."

Tsunoda set for a long spell at Red Bull Racing?

Racking up zero points scored and failing to get out of Q1 in each of his qualifying outings for the Austrian team, it was ultimately these results that saw the Kiwi driver demoted to sister team, Racing Bulls, and Tsunoda promoted to Red Bull.

Alguersuari expects Tsunoda to be closer to Verstappen at Suzuka, the Japanese driver's home race, labeling as "quite achievable" the possibility that Tsunoda will outperfom Lawson's past results at Red Bull Racing.

"It’s Yuki's home Grand Prix, he knows very well the track, he's coming from very solid, consistent races, with good performances. He's very motivated to step into the big team, so I think it's going to go well for him, honestly.

"I would be surprised if he is much slower than Max. I think he'll be slower, but I don't think he'll be more than half a second, six-tenths slower. Making a better job of what Liam did in the first two races is something quite achievable, even though I don't think it’s fair on Liam [to have been dropped].

Are there any hopes that Tsunoda could be a Red Bull Racing driver down the long haul, though? His chances are the best of all the Red Bull junior drivers, thinks Alguersuari, something junior talent, Arvid Linblad might disagree with.

"To keep that Red Bull seat for a long time? I don't know. You never know with Red Bull. At least he's in the best situation possible of any of their junior drivers [in recent times], I would say.”