Croft confused at how Red Bull "seem to keep making the wrong decisions"

Sky Sports commentator David Croft has shared his bemusement after Yuki Tsunoda was offically announced as the replacement for Liam Lawson at Red Bull Racing, saying that the Austrian team "seem to keep making the wrong decisions."

Lawson was chosen to be the second driver at Red Bull Racing after Sergio Perez left after the 2024 season, winning the Racing Bulls battle against Tsunoda at the end of the 2024 season. It was a decision that had a lot of people scratching their heads, with the New Zealander only taking part in 11 Grands Prix in his short F1 career, while Tsunoda had a very impressive previous season with Red Bull's sister team.

However, Christian Horner and Helmut Marko saw more in Lawson than they did in Tsunoda, resulting in the 23-year-old getting the call-up to be teammates with Max Verstappen. However, after crashing out of the Australian Grand Prix and then qualifying dead last in both sprint qualifying and qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix, Dawson will be dropped from the Austrian team and replaced by Tsunoda, who just a couple of months ago was looked over as a Red Bull driver.

The choice and then conduct surrounding the Lawson-Tsunoda saga has been something fans have been hugely critical about after the news broke, but Croft shared his confusion at the whole situation while speaking to Sky Sports News.

"What I'd love to know is how they made the decision about Liam Lawson in the first place," the commentator stated. "They have all the data from RB, it's their sister team. They can compare Max Verstappen to Liam Lawson, Yuki Tsunoda to Checo Perez, as it was last year. They've got all the data they need to make the right decision, but they seem to keep making the wrong decision.

"Checo Perez didn't exactly flourish from the Miami Grand Prix in 2023 onwards. Liam Lawson seemed like a decent appointment from the outside, but what data did they use, and why is it now after two races they're going to discard that data and bring in Yuki Tsunoda, who was the driver that they didn't think worthy of and haven't thought worthy of for some time now," continued a confused Croft.

Of course, there is still plenty of potential for Lawson to continue in F1 and bounce back, just like Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly have done, both now performing well at Willias and Alpine, respectively.

"I'm sure Liam Lawson will do a super job at Racing Bulls. Will he ever get the chance again at Red Bull? I doubt it very much, but that, of course, depends on how Yuki Tsunoda gets on because there are no guarantees that he's going to shine straight away, and maybe that's what Red Bull are expecting and wanting from their drivers as they chase Constructors' Championship points and maybe another title," concluded Croft.