We put Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson in the Red Bull for a season each and the results were incredible

We simulated a year of both Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson at Red Bull, amid reports over the pair's F1 futures ahead of the upcoming Japanese Grand Prix.

Lawson has failed to score points in either of his first two race weekends as a Red Bull driver, having replaced Sergio Perez for 2025.

Autosport claim that the New Zealander could be dropped by Red Bull ahead of the third Grand Prix of the season in Japan and replaced by Tsunoda.

The Japanese driver was overlooked for the second Red Bull seat and remained with Racing Bulls, where he has had a strong start to the season in terms of pure pace.

The same cannot be said for Lawson, who was downbeat on team radio after the Chinese Grand Prix and has admitted that he needs 'time' to get used to the specific attributes of the Red Bull car - which is largely designed for the differing driving style of team-mate Max Verstappen.

Should Red Bull decide to drop the 22-year-old back down to Racing Bulls, it would be appear to be a harsh decision - even for a team which isn't known for its patience with any driver not named Max Verstappen.

But using F1 Manager 2024, we've simulated both Tsunoda and Lawson as Verstappen's team-mate for the entirety of 2025 - with intriguing results.

Yuki Tsunoda at Red Bull in 2025

Before we start, the disclaimers - we've set McLaren to have the quickest possible car at the beginning of the season, with Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes all level behind them.

The race calendar, and sprint weekends, both match the real-life 2025 calendar, and each driver has been put in their real-life car as well, except for the swap with Tsunoda and Lawson. There is also no extra point for the fastest lap.

Tsunoda in the Red Bull wins the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, finishing 10 seconds ahead of second-placed Lewis Hamilton.

In his third race at his home circuit of Suzuka, Tsunoda finishes in a respectable fifth place, with Lando Norris taking his second win of the season ahead of Verstappen and George Russell.

In his ninth Grand Prix of the season for Red Bull, Tsunoda picks up his first win in Spain, finishing ahead of Piastri and Russell. Verstappen is down in seventh.

At the halfway point in the season, Tsunoda is doing a solid job for the team, with 127 points to his name. That puts him behind Oscar Piastri and Russell but ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, with the Scuderia clearly falling behind on development in the virtual world.

Four-time world champion Verstappen then begins to dominate the season, but Tsunoda nets a second race win of the campaign in Las Vegas.

Tsunoda ends his 2025 season with a highly respectable haul of 332 points, putting him in third place in the Drivers' Championship.

While he has to play second fiddle behind runaway champion Verstappen, the Japanese driver still picks up three race wins and a sprint win, alongside a total of 10 podiums.

His performances help Red Bull to regain their Constructors' Championship crown, having solved their car problems by mid-season to allow Verstappen and Tsunoda to compete for victories.

But how did Lawson get on?

Liam Lawson at Red Bull in 2025

It was so far, so good in Australia, with the Kiwi finishing in second place behind Verstappen for a Red Bull one-two.

After a steady first seven races, Lawson picked up a stunning victory at the Monaco Grand Prix, finishing 20 seconds ahead of nearest challenger Norris.

A second victory of the season would follow in Canada, as he finished 1.8 seconds ahead of Hamilton.

Then in Austria, Lawson made it back-to-back wins as he overtook pole-sitter Verstappen for the lead before taking the chequered flag by 0.4 seconds.

By the halfway point, Lawson was on 171 points - just 46 behind championship leader Verstappen.

Unlike in the first simulation, Red Bull actually fell behind in the development race, and both Verstappen and Lawson struggled for consistent results.

Lawson did manage to take home a fourth win of the season in Mexico, with just 1.5 seconds separating himself, Norris and Piastri.

But a car failure in Abu Dhabi meant his season ended on a disappointing note.

Lawson picked up 277 points to finish in fifth place in the Drivers' Championship standings, lower than Tsunoda in both metrics - though there was a smaller difference between the second Red Bull and Verstappen compared to the first simulation, in what was a less competitive car.

In other words, there wasn't too much to separate the drivers - though given his higher points tally and Red Bull winning the Constructors' Championship, Tsunoda has the edge.

Red Bull would probably be more than happy with both drivers' results if that were to be translated to the real world.

In the real world, Lawson will no doubt be hoping that he gets enough time with the team to allow him to show his true pace in the Red Bull - with the team also hoping to solve their balance issues and get back to the very front of the field by the end of 2025.

But should Tsunoda take the seat, he will be expected to hit the ground running and help Red Bull to get back to the top.