The saga surrounding Yuki Tsunoda ’s promotion and Liam Lawson ’s demotion to Racing Bulls is thus: for years now, around and through Max Verstappen With numerous world championships under their belt, Red Bull has fielded just one car for their Formula 1 team.
Since Daniel Ricciardo After his departure from the pinnacle of his Formula 1 career in 2018, Pierre Gasly , Alex Albon , Sergio Perez And now, Lawson has attempted and fallen short of managing to drive a car that was largely customized according to Max Verstappen’s sharp-fronted Uber preferences within the Red Bull team. This has happened despite changes in two distinct design eras.
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Dressed in an exquisite custom white outfit, Tsunoda aims to prevent himself from becoming part of that group as he begins his challenge at this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.
However, due to Checo Perez’s failure to keep up with Max Verstappen’s point-scoring pace in both 2021 and 2024, which cost Red Bull two Constructors' Championships, an insightful comment made by someone close to Formula 1 during the recent Chinese Grand Prix suggested a potential solution for Christian Horner’s team.
Considering Verstappen indicated in Shanghai that the Red Bull car is "easier to drive than theirs," why not repaint an RB19 to feature the colors preferred for the secondary Red Bull team?
Liam Lawson, Red Bull Racing, Isack Hadjar, RB F1 Team
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
The upsides for Red Bull would be clear.
It could concentrate on fettling the RB21 to keep giving Verstappen the strong front end he wants but reduce the confidence-sapping rear end snaps that even his prodigious talent can’t tame when they randomly strike.
Simultaneously, whichever driver happens to be Verstappen’s teammate for a particular race weekend – which will be his third different partner in just four grand prix events since Abu Dhabi last year – would have access to the more manageable Racing Bulls setup. This configuration typically features a slightly elevated ride height, generally making it simpler to handle.
There are historical instances in Formula 1 where teams have used significantly different car configurations, such as the low-downforce and high-downforce Red Bull RB20 kits driven by Checo Pérez and Max Verstappen during last year's Hungarian Grand Prix. McLaren entering its regular M7A cars (arranged in three different specifications) as well as the one-off four-wheel drive M9A at the 1969 British GP.
Clearly, in today's brutally realistic modern world, Red Bull's Formula 1 competitors would protest against such a move since the championship has progressed far beyond allowing this sort of thing.
They would have the legal grounds to halt this plan immediately (though it doesn’t prevent it from being an engaging topic in a domain as complex and captivating as motorsport).
The primary regulation that such an effort would violate is Article 17.3 (along with its numerous sub-sections) within Formula 1's technical rules. This section focuses on " Listed Team Components" (LTC), restricting teams from incorporating particular components—such as all aerodynamic elements—to their vehicles for racing purposes unless these parts were developed internally.
Additionally, Rule 17.5 concerning Transferable Components (TRC) addresses components that teams have the ability to construct and subsequently offer for sale to other entities.
This is especially relevant to the Red Bull/Racing Bulls scenario since they use numerous shared components – such as suspensions for both front and rear axles, along with gearboxes.
Max Verstappen from Red Bull Racing, along with Isack Hadjar, who is part of the RB F1 Team.
Photo courtesy of: Red Bull Content Pool
F1's technical regulations encompass Standard Supply Components (SSC) and Open Source Components (OSC), which handle certain non-performance-critical car components produced externally through suppliers. These suppliers may serve multiple teams as well.
Even though these regulations have undergone adjustments over time—primarily with Haas’s entry into Formula 1 competition utilizing numerous components from the approved list—they continue to evolve. Ferrari as permitted back in 2016 – Red Bull is actually the main reason why rules that ban customer cars exist in the first place.
Starting from late 2005, Red Bull has been the owner of both its flagship team and variously named satellite squads. This ownership structure resulted in the complicated banning of two teams with nearly identical designs back in 2010.
As a kicker, F1’s regulations (specifically Article 17.2.4 and 17.2.6 of the 2025 technical regulations) forbid Red Bull from moving personnel between their two teams to exchange any concepts.
And Red Bull wasn't allowed to utilize images, scans, or video footage to recreate Racing Bulls' approved set of components for a single vehicle; they had to dedicate their own resources to develop the design themselves.
During the budget cap era, this has become increasingly challenging, and it's quite a burden for Red Bull, who are striving to provide Verstappen with a car that matches his exceptional talents without compromising his teammate's performance opportunities. Currently, however, even this hasn't resulted in the fastest car exclusively for one of the Red Bull drivers.
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