A former world champion has issued a chilling warning to one F1 star ahead of the 2025 season.
After a thrilling year – which saw Max Verstappen become champion for the fourth time in his career – anticipation is building ahead of the new season.
However, one driver who will be apprehensive about the year ahead is Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda – who finds himself in a difficult situation ahead of the new season.
Last month, Red Bull made the decision to name Liam Lawson as their new number two driver – alongside Max Verstappen – over Tsunoda.
Now, former F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve has weighed in on the situation and insisted that the Japanese driver will be the first to leave the grid.
‘Tsunoda will be the first driver to leave the grid – he’s only there because of Honda,’ he told Action Network. ‘At some point this will stop.
Former F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has issued a warning to one F1 star
Red Bull opted to overlook Yuki Tsunoda – instead choosing Liam Lawson – for 2025 season
‘The writing is quite clear that this is his last season with the Red Bull family anyway. And I don’t see any team wanting him unless there’s a big Honda push.’
He added: ‘It’s a big chance for Liam Lawson, it’s a big opportunity, but we’ve seen drivers being put into the main team right away collapse very quickly. So, we’ll see how mentally strong he is and how good he really is, because we don’t know yet.
‘Contractually Lawson is there to help Verstappen. But in his own head he’s not. In his head he’s there to replace Max.
‘So, he will try to be tough and quick. Hopefully it will put Max under pressure and push Max to drive even better. and this way help the team to make progress.’
Tsunoda outqualified Lawson in all six race weekends they competed with each other last season, winning four of those races and only losing the other two due to crashing.
The Japanese driver’s dominance over Lawson is another reason why supporters have been left confused at Christian Horner and Red Bull’s decision.
Red Bull’s history of promoting young prodigies has not always proved fruitful, with Pierre Gasly’s short period in the hot seat in 2019 a testament to that.
And supporters fear that Lawson could face the same fate as Gasly, who was demoted after the summer break of his only season in the ‘A team’.