The saga surrounding Red Bull Racing and its drivers has dominated the Formula 1 news cycle, as the next chapter begins at this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.
Yuki Tsunoda will have his first race weekend in Red Bull's senior team following a driver swap with New Zealand driver Liam Lawson, who has been demoted back to Racing Bulls, the junior team.
Lawson and Tsunoda were in contention for the vacant senior seat in the off-season, but Red Bull elected to go with the Kiwi, who had just 11 grands prix, instead of Tsunoda, who had driven for Racing Bulls (formerly RB and AlphaTauri) for the previous four seasons.
But just two races into the season, Lawson's poor results led Red Bull to pull the trigger and make a change, a brutal sacking even by F1's cutthroat standards.
The pressure is now on Tsunoda, who will need to make an immediate impact to silence any questions about whether Red Bull made a knee-jerk reaction so early in the season.
But the Japanese driver, who already has the pressure of expectation in front of his home fans, has said he is ready to relish the opportunity.
Speaking at a function hosted by automaker Honda, who has heavily backed Tsunoda's career, the Japanese driver said making his Red Bull debut in his home country "feels like fate".
"To be honest, I never expected to be racing for Red Bull at the Japanese Grand Prix," Tsunoda said, as reported by publisher Motorsport.
"This is the final year of Red Bull and Honda's partnership, so getting to race in Suzuka as a Red Bull Racing driver feels like fate. Everything has fallen into place in just the right way for me to be standing here today.
"There aren't many moments in life where you face this kind of extreme pressure and an opportunity as big as this, so I can only imagine that it's going to be an incredibly thrilling race."
Red Bull finished third in last year's constructors' championship, despite Max Verstappen claiming his fourth drivers' championship in a row.
It was the first time since 1983 that the drivers' champion competed for a team that did not finish either first or second in the constructors' championship. That year, Brabahm-BMW finished third in the constructors' championship, while Nelson Piquet became world champion.
In 2024, an eighth-place finish for Red Bull driver Sergio Perez cost Red Bull a chance of winning three straight constructors' titles.
Red Bull made the switch away from Perez, believing Lawson would help them battle with McLaren and Ferrari for the title.
Switching Lawson after no points from two grands prix and a sprint race was because they no longer thought the Kiwi could help them win the world title this year, according to Red Bull team boss Christian Horner.
"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," he said in the statement last week announcing the driver swap.
"We came into the 2025 season, with two ambitions, to retain the World Drivers' Championship and to reclaim the World Constructors' title and this is a purely sporting decision."
Verstappen has made a promising start to the second, placing second at the Australian Grand Prix and fourth in the Chinese Grand Prix.
A third-place finish in the sprint race at China has the defending world champion second in the drivers' championship standing after two rounds.
McLaren, the defending constructors' champions, have made a blistering start to the year.
Lando Norris was the winner in Australia while teammate Oscar Piastri drove a flawless race to win the Chinese Grand Prix.
The Japanese Grand Prix, the third round of the 2025 Formula 1 championship, will be held on Sunday, April 6.
