Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda have been rivals and sometimes team-mates as part of the Red Bull junior program. Lawson recently shared how Tsunoda used an odd tactic to try and intimidate him on the track, a move that backfired during the 2019 Macau Grand Prix.
Although both Lawson and Tsunoda came through Red Bull’s junior program and raced in Formula 3 together in 2019, Lawson took a bit longer to make it to Formula 1. Lawson’s career included two years in F3, a stint in F2, and time spent in Japan’s Super Formula, while Tsunoda only spent one year in F3, then moved up to F2 before joining F1 in 2021.
Today, the two drivers are team-mates at Red Bull’s junior team VCARB, both hoping for a chance to race for the senior team. While Lawson is considered a potential candidate, Tsunoda is not expected to move up, despite his upcoming post-season tests with the RB20.
Having been rivals in the junior categories, they know each other’s strategies well. Lawson recently revealed one of Tsunoda’s tactics on the Red Flag podcast. “Yuki used to do this thing, the first year that we were team-mates was 2019,” Lawson explained. “In FIA F3 we weren’t team-mates, but we did Euroformula Open at the same time, and we were team-mates in that.
I got to know him pretty well. All year, in a practice session or a qualifying session, whenever I was on a cool-down lap, Yuki would come past me, he would always insist on just getting as close to me as possible. I don’t know if he was trying to scare me or what. He did this all year.”
The tactic came back to bite Tsunoda during the 2019 Macau Grand Prix. Lawson recalled, “We went to Macau, it’s insane, really bumpy and borderline can’t-believe-they-race-there. We both get phone calls from Helmut [Marko] and he says, ‘Whatever you do, do not crash in the first session because you need the time on the track to build up for the qualifying. Don’t crash!’”
Lawson continued, “The very first lap I go out, I complete it, I cool down and I see Yuki coming in the rearview. I’m like, trying to get out of his way, I’m up against a brick wall. And as he comes past me, he just clips my front wheel, goes flying and straight into the barrier.
The gearbox is off the back, [he] destroys the car. He breaks my front suspension as well, so I’m out of the session. I remember thinking ‘I know exactly what you did’. Nobody else knows. Everyone just thinks that we’ve had a clumsy little crash. But I know what he’s done. I know that he’s tried to get close, and he’s obviously hit a f***ing bump because it’s Macau and he misjudged it.”
Tsunoda didn’t apologize for the incident. Lawson said, “I saw him in the elevator that night. I remember the elevator doors opening the first time I saw him, and he’s standing there, and I looked at him. He smiled at me, and I knew straight away that he knew exactly what he had done.”
Lawson has scored four points in his first three races with VCARB and is expected to stay with the junior team next season unless he is called up to replace Sergio Perez in the senior Red Bull team.
