Martin Brundle scoffs at Yuki Tsunoda after he accused Liam Lawson of slowing him down ‘on purpose’

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Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson have clashed twice at the United States Grand Prix. This comes as they battle for a future in the Red Bull F1 set-up next year.

Lawson and Tsunoda fought for track position in Sprint qualifying on Friday, with the Red Bull driver running off the circuit as he tried to get past on an outlap. He didn’t make it to the line in time to complete another lap.

Then, in Grand Prix qualifying, Tsunoda accused Lawson of getting his way ‘on purpose’. Both drivers were eliminated in Q2, with the Racing Bulls man one spot ahead (P12 vs P13).

Isack Hadjar is set to replace Tsunoda next year. With Formula 2 starlet Arvid Lindblad expected to join Racing Bulls, Verstappen’s two 2025 teammates could be battling for the sole remaining seat.

Martin Brundle says Liam Lawson did ‘all he could’ to get out of Yuki Tsunoda’s way

“Lawson is, uh, disturbing me on purpose, like slowing down like hell in corners,” Tsunoda complained over the radio after encountering the VCARB02 at the turn 11 hairpin.

Sky Sports commentator Martin Brundle, though, said Lawson could only have got further out of Tsunoda’s way if he’d travelled to the nearby ‘airport’.

“I’d have to see it again, but honestly, Lawson could have gone to the airport nearby if he wanted to get further out of the way,” he said. “That’s all he could have done. We’ll have to see it again, but it looked to me like he really got out of the way through the exit.”

Later in the session, Tsunoda also fumed over an Alpine driver allegedly ‘blocking’ him.

He bagged points in the Sprint after carving his way through the early melee to climb from 18th to seventh. Lawson just missed out on scoring in P9.

Yuki Tsunoda knows Red Bull’s deadline for 2026 F1 driver decision

Helmut Marko ruled out signing Alex Dunne for Racing Bulls, so there’s one less competitor for Tsunoda and Lawson to worry about. A decision is expected to be taken after next weekend’s race in Mexico.

Perhaps that explains the apparent tension between Tsunoda and Lawson this weekend. They could well go wheel-to-wheel during Sunday’s race, too.

Tsunoda ‘didn’t expect’ it to be so hard to score points at Red Bull. He’s currently 16th in the championship as Verstappen mounts a late title charge.

He remains confident that ‘it will come’, but his teammate’s dominant pole position on Saturday will only raise further concerns inside Red Bull.