Lawson OUT at Red Bull as shock change made - report

Red Bull has made the shock decision to drop Liam Lawson after just two grands prix and hand Yuki Tsunoda the chance he has long craved, according to the Dutch newspaper De Limburger. 

The move comes following a meeting in Dubai of Red Bull's senior management, including team principal Christian Horner and advisor Helmut Marko, who had placed their faith in the New Zealander to replace Sergio Perez.

After qualifying 18th and crashing out of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Lawson suffered a double disaster in China when he was slowest in both qualifying sessions for the sprint and grand prix.

Lawson's miserable showing was a kick in the teeth for Horner and Marko, who felt that the 23-year-old's potential was greater than that of Tsunoda after reviewing the data from the final six grands prix of last season when they were team-mates at RB.

De Limburger reports power unit provider Honda was prepared to pay Red Bull an additional 10 million euros to guarantee Tsunoda a drive for this year. It is claimed the Japanese manufacturing giant already pays 10 million euros to Racing Bulls for his seat. It was a move rebuffed at the time as Horner favoured Lawson.

It is further suggested that Honda has recently been approached again, with Red Bull enquiring how much it would be willing to pay for Tsunoda to take up the seat alongside Max Verstappen. The suggestion is it is willing to pay 'several millions'.

Red Bull's decision would appear to be an unfair crack of the whip for Lawson. He had not raced at either of the first two tracks, and there appear to be clear issues with the RB21, which four-time F1 champion team-mate Verstappen has also struggled with this season. 

Lawson, however, has failed to score a point whilst Verstappen has 36 to leave him second in the standings.

Over the Chinese Grand Prix weekend, neither Horner nor Marko refused to rule out the possibility of a driver swap, even though Lawson has experience of the upcoming Suzuka circuit after competing in Super Formula, as well as the Bahrain International Circuit following pre-season testing.

For the sake of their constructors' championship hopes, however, Red Bull has decided to turn to Tsunoda after four years with its 'sister' team in its various guises.

Tsunoda had to wait until the post-season one-day test in Abu Dhabi at the end of last year to finally get his first taste of a Red Bull, apparently performing admirably, although was ultimately overlooked for Lawson, who will return to Racing Bulls.