AlphaTauri star driver Yuki Tsunoda is all set to join Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo at the Red Bull demo run at the Nurburgring Nordschleife in Germany. The Japanese F1 driver will be joining the former Red Bull star and current Red Bull reserve driver in September this year.
Earlier this month, Max Verstappen admitted that he too, wanted to be a part of this event. Unfortunately for him, Red Bull did not give him the heads up. The team’s chief advisor Helmut Marko was the one who ordered Verstappen to not take part in it.
The denial, of course, frustrated the Red Bull star as he seemed excited about the prospect of competing in the event. However, Marko knew that Verstappen was eyeing the lap record at Nurburgring Nordschleife. Because of its dangerous layout and the prospect of meeting with an accident, Marko felt it was best for Verstappen to refrain himself from taking part.
Yuki Tsunoda anticipating latest venture with zeal
Yuki Tsunoda is all excited about his latest endeavor. However, a lot of fans felt that Tsunoda being allowed to take part, ahead of Verstappen points towards something fishy. Nevertheless, the 23-year-old driver is more than just excited to race at Nurburgring. Speaking about this, he said as per the official Scuderia AlphaTauri statement, “I’ve never driven at the Nürburgring before, so I’m really looking forward to the event in September.”
Yuki Tsunoda at the Nürburgring? 🫶🏻
he’ll join an already impressive line up at Red Bull’s show event at the circuit on September 9th! pic.twitter.com/31B7jrqaW3
— WTF1 (@wtf1official) June 26, 2023
“The Nordschleife is a legendary circuit, I just experienced it on the Gran Turismo videogame and already enjoyed it a lot,” he added.
In Nurburgring, Tsunoda will drive the HONDA NSX GT3 Evo. It is a proven race-winning machine in the highest level of GT3 category. It is believed that he will drive a Honda due to the promotion show run requirements.
Is Tsunoda going to replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull?
As per the recent developments, Tsunoda is believed to be the replacement of Sergio Perez at Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen. The young Japanese driver’s impressive performances this year despite driving one of the slowest cars on the grid has raised eyebrows.
The 23-year-old is currently in P17 with two points. But his performances have been valiant with all the race finishes being above P16. This gives the Red Bull hierarchy an option to select Yuki Tsunoda for Red Bull amid Perez’s dismal form.
The Japanese driver being a Red Bull academy driver can further help his cause with outbound AlphaTauri boss Franz Tost giving his nod of validation. If Tsunoda can keep performing the way he is doing at the moment, there is a huge chance of him wearing the Red Bull overalls very soon.
