The Formula 1 team known as Oracle Red Bull Racing has faced many criticisms over their 20-year stretch in F1, but they have been faced with new challenges lately.
Max Verstappen winning the 2021 driver’s championship was the first peak for the team since Sebastian Vettel did it in 2013. Since 2021, Max Verstappen has won every driver’s championship and is currently etching his name into the history books.
The Red Bull team has also won the constructors championship in 2022 and 2023. But as of 2024, and in the current 2025 season, the second driver has been a talking point amongst the paddock and for the fans.
The last driver to be nearly equal to Verstappen was Daniel Ricciardo in 2018. Since then, the team has had a handful of different drivers, all of which haven’t been up to par with Verstappen, or anywhere close, with the exception of Sergio Pérez for a short stint.
The car has seen developments and upgrades over the years, and there are theories about all the different reasons that the second seat at Red Bull never pans out. Some fans speculate that the car is built around Verstappen to suit his driving style. Others say that the car is a difficult one to drive, and Verstappen knows how to drive it in such a way that it’s quick.
I feel as if it’s both of those. The team promoted Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly too quickly for their stints with the team, and Pérez fell victim to a difficult car to drive at the end of his stint in 2024.
For 2025, Red Bull has promoted 23-year-old New Zealander Liam Lawson. In his first two races, he hasn’t scored any points and has a qualifying average of 19.33/20 in 2025. On March 27, it was confirmed that the Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda, a Red Bull junior driver, will replace Lawson at the next race in Suzuka, Japan, after just two races.
To me, the Red Bull car isn’t a top 3 car. Verstappen is a world-class driver, so as long as he is at Red Bull, he will always be in the fight for the driver’s championship.
In my opinion, even though it is still very early to tell, the top 4 teams are split as:
- McLaren
- Mercedes
- Ferrari
- Red Bull
The team has had a rotation of second drivers, and they haven’t exactly panned out. Tsunoda is a fast driver, so I hope that he can match Verstappen in the Red Bull.
The worst-case scenario is that Tsunoda produces similar or the same results as Lawson over the next few races.
Tsunoda is set to become a free agent at the end of the 2025 season, so producing good results is critical in order for him to earn another contract either at Red Bull or at another team.
