Yuki Tsunoda Aims To Avoid Red Bull Axe After 2025
Yuki Tsunoda says he wants to remain “in the Red Bull family” beyond the 2025 season.
Despite his pace, a calmer demeanour and four seasons of experience with the Faenza-based junior team, Red Bull still decided that it should be rookie Liam Lawson who should become Max Verstappen’s new teammate for 2025.
In the dying days of 2024, Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner strongly hinted that 2025 could be 24-year-old Japanese Tsunoda’s last year with the energy drink-owned concern.
“You can’t have a driver in the support team for five years,” he said. “You can’t always be the bridesmaid.
“At that point you either have to let him go or think of something else.”
‘Let him go’ could be a reference to swirling rumours that Tsunoda’s backer Honda might want the Japanese driver at Aston Martin next year. However, an Aston Martin spokesman insists that both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll are firmly under contract for both 2025 and 2026.
That could leave Tsunoda out of Formula 1 after this season.
“We’ll see,” Tsunoda said ahead of the new season. “Like every season, it depends on my performance. But I would like to stay in the Red Bull family.”
Tsunoda even insists that he wasn’t overly surprised or disappointed when Red Bull signed Lawson instead of him for this year.
“Last year’s things I’ve already kind of parked and put out of my head, to be honest,” he said. “At the moment they officially announced it, I didn’t actually feel super angry or disappointed.
“I’ve just got to stick to what I’m doing, because there are things I can’t control. I’ll just keep focused on myself and try to prove myself more.”
As for Horner’s suggestion that five years with the junior team – this year called Racing Bulls – is too much, Tsunoda smiled: “Maybe our team will change its name again next year so it’s a different team. Let’s see. It depends on my performance.
“Obviously I would like to stay in this Red Bull family, if it’s Red Bull Racing that’s amazing, if not then I’d still love to be in this part of the team. I feel a lot of support from them, which means a lot to me.
“Whatever happens, there can be interesting options.”
The quote from Horner sounds more like something Marko would say rather than CH, himself, so I wonder if he's just repeating something he's already heard - perhaps more than once. Isn't Marko the guy in charge of RB's driver supply line? In any case, I think Yuki better enjoy 2025 because I think he will be out of F1 at the end of the season - if not before. Marko doesn't seem to like him and we all know how that ends.
Honestly, I'm pretty ambivalent when it comes to Yuki. I've never understood all the enthusiasm he generates in some quarters. To me he is an average driver; though there is a decided irony to calling any F1 driver 'average', but still... Granted, the car hasn't been top notch. Would Yuki shine in a better car? That's the perennial question for any driver in the midfield, isn't it. Is it the machine or are they just not quite there? Unfortunately, most times we never get to find out and I think that's probably how it's going to end for Yuki.