SUZUKA: Max Verstappen confirmed Thursday he was unhappy with Red Bull’s ruthless driver swap for the Japanese Grand Prix, saying his endorsement of a social media post criticizing the move “speaks for itself”. The four-time world champion has a new teammate at Suzuka after Yuki Tsunoda replaced the underperforming Liam Lawson two weeks into the Formula One season.

Red Bull have been criticized for not giving Lawson enough time, with former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde saying on social media that the move was “bullying, or a panic move”. Verstappen put a “like” on Van der Garde’s post and told reporters that it was “not a mistake”.

“I liked the comment, the text, so I guess it speaks for itself, right?” Verstappen said at the Suzuka Circuit. “Everything has been shared with the team, how I think about everything. “Sometimes it’s not necessary to always share and say everything in public. I think it’s better.”

Lawson had been promoted from Red Bull’s sister team RB at the end of last season and now returns, with Tsunoda going the other way. Lawson’s two races for Red Bull, in Melbourne and Shanghai, were at tracks on which he had never raced before.

“I think for rookies, always at the beginning of the season, you have the calendar nowadays, and F1 is very tough,” said Verstappen. “Because most of the tracks, they haven’t really driven on, or they maybe have a sprint weekend. “So all these scenarios, they don’t help.”

Verstappen is second in the drivers’ championship, eight points behind Lando Norris of McLaren, after finishing second in Australia and fourth in China. McLaren won both GPs and clearly have a performance edge over a Red Bull regarded as tricky to drive, but Verstappen has won the Japanese Grand Prix for the last three years.

“I think our main issue is that our car is not where we want it to be,” Verstappen said. “I think everyone knows that within the team as well, and that’s what I focus on, to be honest.”

Yuki Tsunoda vowed on Thursday to bring “something different” to Red Bull after his sudden promotion ahead of his home Japanese Grand Prix this weekend. The Japanese driver was catapulted into the Red Bull hot seat alongside four-time world champion Max Verstappen last week when he replaced the underperforming Liam Lawson two races into the season.

Tsunoda will make his Red Bull debut at Suzuka, with Lawson swapping places to return to sister team Racing Bulls (RB). Tsunoda said Red Bulls chief Christian Horner had “clearly” told him that “their main priority is Max” but the Japanese racer is keen to make an impact in his own way.

“I’m not saying I’m confident that I can perform straight away like Max,” said Tsunoda, who is into his fifth F1 season and is yet to get on the podium. “But I have confidence that I can do something different, hopefully, compared to other drivers.

“If I don’t have confidence, I’m not very good. I would stay at Racing Bulls,” the 24-year-old added. Tsunoda said that he fully accepted that Verstappen was the team’s top priority. “He’s a four-time world champion and so far already in the last few races, even in the car’s difficult situation, he still performed well,” said Tsunoda.

He added that his instructions from the team were to “be as close to Max as possible”. Tsunoda was passed over for a Red Bull seat in favor of Lawson when Sergio Perez left at the end of last season. Tsunoda said the decision was “brutal” for him but he accepted it at the time as part of life in the Red Bull organization. “We understand, I’m sure Liam understands as well how the situation can very quickly change within our structure,” he said. — AFP