Former world champion insists F1 star is in HUGE danger of losing his seat in 2025… as he claims the driver will be ‘first to leave the grid’ during his ‘last season with the Red Bull family’

A former world champion has issued a chilling warning to one F1 star ahead of the 2025 season. 

After a thrilling year – which saw Max Verstappen become champion for the fourth time in his career – anticipation is building ahead of the new season. 

Last month, Red Bull made the decision to name Liam Lawson as their new number two driver – alongside Max Verstappen – over Tsunoda.

Now, former F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve has weighed in on the situation and insisted that the Japanese driver will be the first to leave the grid.

‘Tsunoda will be the first driver to leave the grid – he’s only there because of Honda,’ he told Action Network. ‘At some point this will stop. 

‘The writing is quite clear that this is his last season with the Red Bull family anyway. And I don’t see any team wanting him unless there’s a big Honda push.’ 

He added: ‘It’s a big chance for Liam Lawson, it’s a big opportunity, but we’ve seen drivers being put into the main team right away collapse very quickly. So, we’ll see how mentally strong he is and how good he really is, because we don’t know yet.

‘Contractually Lawson is there to help Verstappen. But in his own head he’s not. In his head he’s there to replace Max. 

‘So, he will try to be tough and quick. Hopefully it will put Max under pressure and push Max to drive even better. and this way help the team to make progress.’

Tsunoda outqualified Lawson in all six race weekends they competed with each other last season, winning four of those races and only losing the other two due to crashing.