Tsunoda and Lawson Open Up on First Drive Experience in Their New Cars, Post Seat Swap

The Dutch Grand Prix weekend kicked off with pure paddock drama after an unexpected reshuffle within the Red Bull family. With Isack Hadjar unable to compete, Red Bull initiated a high-stakes seat swap: Liam Lawson was suddenly called up to the senior Red Bull Racing team alongside Max Verstappen, while Yuki Tsunoda was drafted in to take over Lawson’s vacant seat at Racing Bulls.

Stepping cold into completely different machinery under the tricky, rain-slicked conditions of Zandvoort is one of the toughest tasks in motorsport. Following an intense Sprint Qualifying session, both drivers opened up about how their new cockpits felt and what it takes to tame the 2026-spec cars on zero notice.

Liam Lawson: “We Had the Potential to Be Right Up There”

For Lawson, the sudden jump to the senior Red Bull team brought immediate expectations. While the New Zealander showcased blistering baseline speed right out of the gate in SQ1, a lack of progression in SQ2 left him narrowly missing out on the top-10 shootout.

Speaking to SkySports F1 after the session, Lawson admitted that while his initial comfort inside the car was high, the result was bittersweet.

“Obviously, it’s been an interesting day, but, yeah, normally you’d sort of improve through quali, and we started SQ1 quite strong, and then we didn’t make the same step that everybody else did,” Lawson told the media. “There’s a lot obviously to learn today, but so far, honestly, it feels, I feel quite good in the car. So, yeah, I was honestly feeling okay through quali. I thought we’d get through, so it’s a shame.”

May 21, 2026; Montreal, Quebec, CANADA; Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson (30) arrives to the paddock area at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images

Despite the disappointment of missing out on SQ3, Lawson remains optimistic that the car’s fundamental pace will translate into a strong showing across the remainder of the weekend.

“We’ll obviously try and fix it and put it together for quali, but we definitely had the potential to be right, you know, up there today, so it’s frustrating,” Lawson added.

Yuki Tsunoda: “Everything Really Feels Like a Rookie”

Across the paddock at Racing Bulls, Tsunoda faced the daunting task of adapting to the 2026 car in mixed weather conditions. While surprise rain in early running served as an equalizer, transitioning to dry running around Zandvoort’s tight, high-speed banking was a massive shock to the system.

“Considering it’s my first time in this car… I think there’s a bit more work I had to put in the dry condition, to be honest,” Tsunoda told the media. “Like everything is like really feels like rookie, so, you know, like brake pressure, everything is a lot different to the previous year and everything… but in the end, pretty satisfied with the performance I had in Sprint Qualifying.”

Yuki Tsunoda | Photo Credit: Red Bull Content Pool

When asked about grappling with the dramatic changes under the 2026 technical regulations—especially after logging recent mileage in older machinery via Testing of Previous Cars (TPC)—Tsunoda highlighted the sheer drop in aerodynamic load.

“I’m driving last year’s car, which is probably one of the fastest cars in the history, right? And I enjoy it so much with the TPC’s,” Tsunoda explained. “Going to this car feels a lot different, especially in high-speed corners. And like this kind of traditional track that there’s not much of room in the run-off area, so you want to gradually build up.”

Tsunoda emphasized that his primary focus remains piecing together the data for main qualifying: “So far I think I’m able to build up session by session pretty good, so excited for long run tomorrow. That’s what I need for all of the data before qualifying and race.”