Yuki Tsunoda and Red Bull: What's the problem?

About to start a fifth consecutive season within the B team of the Red Bull galaxy, the Japanese is starting to feel cramped at Faenza. His non-starter alongside Max Verstappen in 2025, Liam Lawson having been preferred to him, must be digested while the question of his future arises at a time when Honda and the Red Bull will part ways at the end of the season.

Published 22/01/2025 à 18:00

Jeremy Satis

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Yuki Tsunoda and Red Bull: What's the problem?

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No one has ever completed five full seasons at the Faenza team since Red Bull took control in 2006. If Pierre Gasly has done the equivalent of four and a half years with Toro Rosso and AlphaTauri between 2017 and 2022, the Tricolore has never taken part in five campaigns in Italy. Yuki tsunoda is preparing to achieve this performance… which he could do without. In Canada, next June, he will become the driver with the most starts in the history of the team. Author of a very solid 2024 season, the Japanese would have liked to pack his bags for Milton Keynes in 2025, but Red Bull's management decided otherwise, preferring the emotional control of Liam Lawson to accompany the omnipotent Max Verstappen.

How did Tsunoda get into this situation?

Succeeding in registering for the long term within a stable of Formula 1 is already an achievement for any driver, as well as a guarantee of seriousness and excellence. But not necessarily within the team in which Yuki Tsunoda finds himself. Racing Bulls, which has been called Toro Rosso (2006-2019), AlphaTauri (2020-2023), then RB (2024) and finally Racing Bulls (2025), has always had the vocation of being a trem

Jeremy Satis

Deputy Digital Editor & F1 Reporter

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1 Comment (s)

Yves-Henri RANDIER

22/01/2025 at 06:34 a.m.

Established in 2021 after a 2020 Rookie campaign that ended on the 3rd step of the F2 podium (won by Schumacher Jr who is no longer in F1), the Japanese driver took advantage of the Honda engine manufacturer to join the Red Bull galaxy. Was TsunHonda really considered an authentic member of the Red Bull sector or as a "political obligation" to the Japanese engine partner? Answer 2 and his departure at the end of 2025 is likely to confirm it. As for seeing him at Aston Martin Honda in 2026, the team would still have to finally decide to install a new steering wheel bucket interface in the 2nd single-seater and that is not a given, Papa Stroll certainly preferring to attract a very big caliber like Hamilton or Verstappen into his nets!

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