Yuki Tsunoda will become Max Verstappen's Red Bull Formula 1 team-mate with immediate effect as Liam Lawson is relegated back to Racing Bulls.
Rumours of Lawson's seat being at risk gathered momentum across the Chinese Grand Prix weekend with Red Bull holding crisis talks after the race.
Now there's confirmation a decision has been made and Tsunoda will replace Lawson in the senior team immediately.
The decision to swap Tsunoda and Lawson has been made collectively by senior Red Bull figures after a meeting involving the company shareholders earlier this week.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner called it "a purely sporting decision" as the team tries to mount title bids in the drivers' and constructors' championships, and said Tsunoda’s experience "will prove highly beneficial in helping to develop the current car".
Red Bull initially picked Lawson to replace Sergio Perez because it believed he had the highest potential of its options, and the mental attitude to cope with the pressure.
Now it is felt that Lawson will benefit from being removed from Red Bull Racing to rebuild his confidence after "a difficult opening period to the season" for him.
"It has been difficult to see Liam struggle with the RB21 at the first two races and as a result we have collectively taken the decision to make an early switch," said Horner.
"We have a duty of care to protect and develop Liam and together, we see that after such a difficult start, it makes sense to act quickly so Liam can gain experience, as he continues his F1 career with Racing Bulls, an environment and a team he knows very well."
An unprecedentedly quick Red Bull driver change means Tsunoda finally gets the senior team chance that he's been pushing for since well before he was overlooked in favour of Lawson as Perez's replacement.
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Lawson floundered during his first two weekends with Red Bull, qualifying last twice and not getting anywhere near a championship point, let alone team-mate Verstappen.
Those performances were so poor that Red Bull has decided to swap Lawson with Tsunoda, who had just started his fifth season in Red Bull's junior team Racing Bulls.
Tsunoda will make his Red Bull debut at his home race at the Japanese GP, a huge coup for his long-time backer Honda - which owns the Suzuka circuit and is departing Red Bull for Aston Martin at the end of this year.
There hasn't been a Japanese driver on an F1 podium for 13 years and Honda has spent years trying to get a Japanese driver into frontrunning machinery - and it is understood to have played a role in getting Tsunoda the Red Bull drive.
Tsunoda will hope to be the exception to the trend of Verstappen destroying every team-mate who has partnered him since Daniel Ricciardo departed at the end of 2018.
Lawson has a chance to rebuild himself by rejoining the Racing Bulls team that he made 11 promising grand prix starts with across 2023-24 before racing for the senior team. He'll join Isack Hadjar, who has made a solid start to his rookie season.
