Yuki Tsunoda is currently in his fourth season in F1, having joined AlphaTauri (now RB) back in 2021. Despite having grown from strength to strength since his debut, the Red Bull bosses seem disinterested in offering him a promotion to the senior team.
Whenever conversations emerge about Red Bull looking to replace the struggling Sergio Perez, Tsunoda’s name rarely pops up as a potential candidate. Previously, it was Daniel Ricciardo whose name was in pole position to replace the Mexican.
And now, it is Liam Lawson who has not even completed a full season in F1. Since Tsunoda has been overlooked so far, it seems to suggest that Red Bull don’t consider him as a driver who is capable of making the step up to the senior team.
Ex-F1 driver claims Yuki Tsunoda merits Red Bull F1 promotion
https://t.co/gqRijCIIHJ— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) October 5, 2024
Several experts have also shared a similar take. For example, Scott Mitchell-Malm of The Race said,
“Nobody is really championing Tsunoda means that Tsunoda’s just probably never going to get his flowers within the Red Bull organization, is he? I don’t think he’s ever going to really be taken that seriously”.
Mitchell-Malm instead believes that Red Bull are only using Tsunoda as a benchmark to evaluate other drivers in the team. However, this narrative may change as Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko seemingly begins to get more powerful in the organization.
Marko has always praised Tsunoda and if he believes that the Japanese driver is capable of making the step up to Red Bull, then the 24-year-old may just find himself moving up the pecking order.
Marko is seemingly getting more powerful in comparison to the likes of Christian Horner as Red Bull decided to sack Ricciardo despite the British boss wanting him to stay on the team. However, if Tsunoda wants to benefit from Marko’s influence, then he will need to continue performing at the level he is currently performing at.
Tsunoda has improved by leaps and bounds
Tsunoda joined F1 in 2021 as Pierre Gasly’s teammate at AlphaTauri. During their first season as teammates, Gasly beat Tsunoda convincingly as he scored 110 points in comparison to the Japanese driver’s 32.
Since it was Tsunoda’s first season, the gap between him and Gasly was understandable. Tsunoda (12 points) then drove significantly better in 2022 as he only finished 11 points behind Gasly (23 points), in a season when both drivers struggled.
Gasly then left AlphaTauri at the end of 2022 and Tsunoda was joined by rookie Nyck de Vries. Since the Japanese prodigy was the senior driver, the expectation for him was to take on the lead driver role. And he did just that, scoring 17 points for the Faenza outfit in 2023 while De Vries managed none and was also replaced by Ricciardo mid-season.
Tsunoda (22 points) has so far carried over his form to 2024 as he has convincingly beaten eight-time Grand Prix winner Ricciardo (12 points). Considering that Tsunoda has only lost to Gasly in his first two years, it seems a mistake for Red Bull to continuously keep overlooking him.
