How Racing Bulls missed the target in dramatic year of musical chairs

Racing Bulls entered the 2024 F1 season as a team with high expectations, following a complete rebrand ahead of the campaign. 

From AlphaTauri to RB (known now as Racing Bulls after another name change), a closer relationship with sister team Red Bull was announced by the Faenza-based outfit. 

Add to that a new team principal in the form of former Ferrari race director Laurent Mekies, big things were expected from the outfit. 

An ultimatum was effectively also set on Daniel Ricciardo, who partnered Yuki Tsunoda. If Ricciardo performed well, he was heavily-tipped to replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull. 

Quite clearly, the opposite materialised, as Ricciardo was replaced with six races remaining by Liam Lawson due to a miserable 18 rounds for the fan favourite. 

Yuki Tsunoda was often fighting for Racing Bulls alone and enjoyed a solid campaign, yet it still saw the team finish eighth in the constructors' standings.

Pre-season expectations from the media of Racing Bulls competing for podiums were comfortably adrift of the mark, which has resulted in yet more changes for 2025. 

Yuki Tsunoda, Daniel Ricciardo & Liam Lawson

From the start of 2024, it was a challenging start for Racing Bulls, who found themselves low in the pecking order in the opening rounds. 

However, Tsunoda soon found form, scoring good points in five out of six races from the Australian Grand Prix to Monaco. 

The same could not be said for Ricciardo, who was a driver that looked a shadow of his best. Consistent good form never came for Ricciardo, with a new chassis in China having changed little. 

His high-point was finishing in fourth in the Miami sprint race, yet that was all he could write home about. Following just three top 10 finishes in 18 races, Ricciardo was replaced by Liam Lawson after Singapore. 

Tsunoda had a clear edge over Ricciardo, beating him 12-6 in their qualifying head-to-head, and 9-8 in their race head-to-head.

Then came Lawson, who knew that he was fighting for more than a seat in the junior team, but a seat alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull. 

Tsunoda, who received a 2025 deal to continue with Racing Bulls early in the year, had the same target. The Japanese driver was quick all season and was a reliable point scorer, unlike Ricciardo.

He had a damning advantage over Lawson in their six qualifying sessions with each other, highlighted by Tsunoda defeating the 22-year-old 6-0.

Again, it was Tsunoda who came out on top against Lawson in the races, defeating the New Zealander 4-2. Ricciardo and Lawson scored just 16 points combined, compared to Tsunoda who accumulated 30. 

Tsunoda was excellent and led the line for Racing Bulls, what let the team down was no single big points haul, something its rivals enjoyed on multiple occasions.

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Back to its roots in 2025, sort of

Looking ahead to next year, and its difficult to feel any other way than expecting some initial frostiness in the camp.

Despite clearly being quicker than Ricciardo and Lawson, Tsunoda has once again been overlooked for a promotion to Red Bull. 

Instead, it is Lawson who has been selected as Sergio Perez's replacement. Tsunoda will want answers, with it increasingly appearing to be the case that he will never race for Red Bull. 

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has accepted that the Austrian company could be forced to start considering releasing Tsunoda, who has a new F1 rookie alongside him for 2025. 

Formula 2 runner-up Isack Hadjar has been promoted to Racing Bulls, with the exciting talent having demonstrated what he can do in the junior category. 

Hadjar will require support and F1 education, should his radio outbursts in F2 be anything to go by. Whilst fast, the Frenchman appears to have a temper when in the car, something Tsunoda previously struggled with.

Tsunoda can only do one thing which is beat Hadjar convincingly and potentially challenge Lawson, to make Red Bull finally take a look at the 24-year-old. 

Next year will mark Tsunoda's fifth campaign in F1 with the Red Bull sister team, which makes him reasonably experienced. 

The signing of Hadjar has seen the team return somewhat to its roots of developing young Red Bull talent, yet the experience of Tsunoda is effectively blocking a seat for another. 

Racing Bulls need to score points more consistently with the occasional big haul should it want to challenge for sixth or seventh in the standings. 

More importantly, it needs to figure out what it will do with Tsunoda once and for all, for the benefit of both parties.