Red Bull has finally come to its senses - but Tsunoda is still the wrong choice

The decision from Red Bull to promote Liam Lawson into the senior team for 2025 was an atrocious piece of decision-making, and all it has achieved is to destroy the self-confidence of a young driver. 

Yes, for sure, Lawson could have performed better than he did in his two grand prix weekends with the team. You can't be last in a healthy Red Bull in qualifying twice, even at a track you've never driven at. Quite simply, though, he was set up to fail by his bosses. 

Christian Horner has pledged a "duty of care" to look after the New Zealander after his demotion back to Racing Bulls, which might seem laughable on the surface, but valuable lessons were learned in the aftermath of the Daniil Kvyat/Max Verstappen swap in 2016 - one that left the Russian utterly broken, with a media session at the 2016 German GP, particularly galling.

It was clear, however, from the moment that Red Bull snapped Daniel Ricciardo's career in Singapore last year that Lawson at the senior team for 2025 was what it had in mind. In the official announcement of Lawson to Racing Bulls, he was only announced for the final six races of the year. There was nothing about where he would be in 2025.

It was as equally clear that Sergio Perez would be released following an abysmal season, and whatever problems you have with the car, you cannot score 48 points in 18 races in a Red Bull, as the Mexican did last season following a strong start in the first six. 

So, Red Bull decided to replace a veteran of 281 grands prix that had been destroyed by a tricky car alongside an all-time great, with a driver who had just 11 starts to his name. Madness!

Lawson, though, was regarded as a driver with a better mental approach as Yuki Tsunoda's early radio tirades came back to bite him. Horner and Helmut Marko deemed him not ready and too inconsistent to be worthy of promotion, even though his results and performances suggested otherwise.

It has taken just two grands prix for Red Bull to come to its senses and promote Tsunoda, whose experience of 89 starts the team is counting on to aid the development of the flawed RB21 - but he is still the wrong driver in that seat.

Sainz should be in the Red Bull

After he lost his Ferrari seat to Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz was on the market, with two top teams in Mercedes and Red Bull having vacancies.

Mercedes was always likely to go down the Kimi Antonelli route, but Red Bull overlooking Sainz is a missed opportunity.

Although he is struggling to settle in and extract those last few drops of performance at Williams, that will come for a driver who is perhaps not at the absolute elite level of Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton throughout a season, but on his day, can beat them fair and square. 

Sainz has a crucial commodity in that he would simply not care that Verstappen is across the garage and would do his own thing.

Sure, there would be the usual trying to beat your team-mate, but he would not be overawed and try outrageous calls on set-up, as Pierre Gasly did during his ill-fated stint.

He is an experienced hand with 208 starts and four wins to his name, so he knows how to develop a winning car, unlike Tsunoda or Lawson, and has first-hand experience dealing with Verstappen as a team-mate.

During their rookie year together in 2015, the relationship between Sainz and Verstappen - and it has to be said, their fathers - broke down and was one factor behind the Verstappen/Kvyat swap in early 2016 - that and Verstappen being a freakishly good once-in-a-generation talent.

Sainz out-qualified Verstappen during that first season, although better reliability allowed Verstappen to finish comfortably ahead in races.

He has no baggage. He is exactly the type of driver Red Bull needs, one who can keep Verstappen on his toes and race-sharp, whilst pushing forward car development, with first-hand knowledge of how Ferrari turned itself into a championship-challenging threat.

Maybe it was the bridges burned with how he forced himself out in 2017 to join Renault, or Verstappen vetoing the move, but Red Bull is approaching a day of destiny. 

Say, for example, Tsunoda flounders at the senior team and proves no better than Perez or Lawson, what then? Who on earth do you throw into that car in that scenario?

The driver who should be there will be nicely tucked up in his Williams.