In the weeks leading up to the 2024 season finale, it was widely reported that Red Bull would favor Liam Lawson over Yuki Tsunoda. However, when it was finally announced that the Kiwi driver would be Max Verstappen’s new teammate, the news came as a shock, given how strong Tsunoda had been over the last two seasons.
Lawson participated in six races in 2024 and was beaten by Tsunoda on all occasions. Additionally, in the races where both finished, Tsunoda led 4-1 in head-to-head record.
With Red Bull still choosing to snub Tsunoda, Peter Windsor feared that the 24-year-old would soon be relegated to a reserve driver role. Tsunoda is Honda-backed, and the Japanese manufacturers are set to leave Red Bull (and RB) to join Aston Martin. “He probably will end up being a reserve driver at Aston Martin,” Windsor said on Cameron’s YouTube channel.
Yuki Tsunoda in 2024:
12 Q3 appearances
Beat teammates 18-6 in qualifying
Beat teammates 14-6 in races
Scored 65% of his team’s pointsStill not enough for a shot in the Red Bull pic.twitter.com/tOhdVUU3NW
— Autosport (@autosport) December 19, 2024
Aston Martin already has two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso and the owner Lawrence Stroll’s son Lance, which is why it is unlikely Honda will be able to find a seat for him.
While Tsunoda’s fans may feel their star driver is being treated unfairly, some reports interestingly suggested that Lawson faced a similar situation ahead of the 2024 season. With Honda reportedly paying Red Bull $10 million annually, the team chose to retain Tsunoda for the 2024 campaign, leaving Lawson without a seat.
Tsunoda likely to leave the Red Bull family after 2025
There doesn’t appear to be much of a future for Tsunoda at Red Bull. Team Principal Christian Horner confirmed that although Honda would have loved to see him on the main team, they do not make any driver decisions.
“Of course, we consult Honda in the decision-making, and I’m sure that they would have loved Yuki to have been in the car in the last year of their agreement with Red Bull Racing,” Horner said in an interview. “But Honda has always refused to get involved in the driver lineups. They’ve always left that choice down to the team“.
During the same interview, Horner added that RB would not retain Tsunoda beyond 2025 as they cannot afford to have a driver on their junior team for more than five seasons. This means that Tsunoda will only stay with the Red Bull family if he gets a promotion to the senior team in the coming campaign.
For that to happen, Lawson would need to underperform drastically, while Tsunoda must continue delivering performances at the highest level. Even then, there is no certainty that Red Bull will offer Tsunoda a seat, given the team’s history of repeatedly snubbing the Japanese driver.
