Red Bull F1 civil war as Yuki Tsunoda blasts rival driver with x-rated rant

tsunoda, red bull racing, japan — Photo: © IMAGO

United States Grand Prix

Red Bull civil war as Yuki Tsunoda blasts rival driver with x-rated rant

Tsunoda wasn't happy with a Red Bull team-mate

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Monday 20 October 2025 07:27

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Internal squabbles at Red Bull threatened to bubble over at the US Grand Prix where Yuki Tsunoda delivered an X-rated rant regarding F1 rival Liam Lawson.

Tsunoda replaced Lawson at Red Bull after just two races for the Kiwi, who was demoted back down to Racing Bulls from the Japanese Grand Prix onwards.

During qualifying on Saturday at the US GP, Tsunoda hit out at Lawson and complained of being blocked by his fellow Red Bull star at Turn 11.

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“Ah, Lawson is disturbing me on purpose. Slowing down like hell in the corners,” Tsunoda said over team radio.

Lawson and Tsunoda also jostled for position driving out of the pit lane during SQ1 in sprint qualifying, where the pair raced for position but Tsunoda failed to advance through to SQ2.

Tsunoda hits out at Lawson

The Red Bull and Racing Bulls star were both knocked out in Q2 in Austin, with Tsunoda complaining about Lawson to the media after the session.

“With Lawson, it’s just the usual story,” he said.

“He’s always doing something on purpose, and it’s b*******, so it’s him. I don’t care about him, to be honest."

“I think, without that, I would have been in Q3. So far, I just can’t have normal qualifying. It’s really frustrating but it is what it is.”

In response to Tsunoda’s comments, Lawson brushed aside Tsunoda’s complaints and named traffic as a regular problem at the Circuit of the Americas.

“I’ve absolutely no idea what he’s talking about,” Lawson added.

“I think traffic is always a little bit tough around here, to be honest. But this weekend it has been something that we’ve all been dealing with. We got hit real bad yesterday in sector one.

“I can’t possibly think where I could have been to be in front of him, but it’s just one of those things.”

“We had a very fast car, we just got hit by a massive gust of wind at the start of the lap and then, from there, you’re trying to make up lap time.

“It sucks. The car has been very, very quick. Unfortunately, it’s just one of those things. We’re all dealing with it, but we get hit at different points and unfortunately, it’s cost us quite a lot of lap time.”

New Yuki war

On race day, Tsunoda had more issues with other drivers having been criticised for moving under braking by Oliver Bearman who had tried to pass the Red Bull star.

Bearman said: What he did was quite dangerous, against the spirit of how we should go racing and against the image that we should project to kids growing up in karting.

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