F1 journalist reveals shock driver Red Bull targeted to replace Sergio Perez before promoting Liam Lawson

Red Bull's first choice to replace Sergio Perez at the end of the 2024 season was not Liam Lawson, Yuki Tsunoda or Franco Colapinto, an F1 journalist has claimed.

Lawson was demoted from the Red Bull team on Thursday after just two Grands Prix, having replaced Perez from the beginning of the 2025 season.

The Kiwi driver failed to score a point in either of those races, and spoke of his difficulties in adapting to what is a unique car as it is largely tailored to reigning champion Max Verstappen's driving style.

Red Bull will hope that the driving style of Tsunoda - who has been promoted to the team from Racing Bulls - will better suit their car, given that it appears to be behind McLaren, Ferrari and even Mercedes on pure pace.

On Friday, former Toyota and Williams F1 driver Ralf Schumacher claimed that team principal Christian Horner wanted Williams' Franco Colapinto to replace Perez initially instead of Lawson.

It is unclear why, if accurate, that move didn't happen as Williams allowed Colapinto to join Alpine as their reserve driver, with the team citing their desire to see the Argentine on the grid full-time.

Lawson was demoted by Red Bull on Thursday (Image: Instagram/Liam Lawson)

But according to Formula 1's Lawrence Barretto, it was in fact a former Red Bull driver that the team tried to entice into a return.

Barretto claims that Red Bull wanted to bring back Alex Albon after a successful three-year stint with Williams.

They initially dropped the Thai driver after the 2020 season before appointing him as their reserve driver for 2021.

Albon joined Williams in 2022 in what was at first a technical loan from Red Bull, who 'retained a relationship with him that includes future options'.

But Williams managed to negotiate another deal with the 28-year-old midway through the 2022 season which made him independent from Red Bull.

He has started the 2025 season in strong form, finishing in fifth place at the Australian Grand Prix - an all-time high during his Williams career - before following that up with seventh in China.

Albon finished in seventh place in China after Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were disqualified (Image: Twitter/Alex Albon)

He has beaten new team-mate Carlos Sainz - himself also a former Red Bull academy driver - in both races.

Sainz started his F1 career with Toro Rosso (now Racing Bulls) in 2015, teaming up with Max Verstappen.

Verstappen was chosen over the Spaniard to replace Daniil Kvyat at Red Bull early in the 2016 season, with Sainz choosing to end his partnership with the Milton Keynes-based team in 2017 to move to Renault (now Alpine).