Real and meaningful friendships among F1 teammates are one of the rarest sights in the paddock. However, former AlphaTauri (now RB) teammates Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly stand out as an exception. Although they are no longer teammates, they continue to share a very strong bond.
Back in 2022, the young Japanese driver went onto the social networking platform Reddit to answer fan questions. When asked what was the #10 driver’s most annoying habit, Tsunoda was quick to lay it bare.
He replied, “Yelling in French at night time when he’s playing games and in the room next to me.” No matter how hilarious the reply maybe, many will take it with a pinch of irony today, given the #22 driver’s fate within the Red Bull driver stable.
Hi Reddit! I’m Yuki Tsunoda, F1 Driver for Scuderia AlphaTauri… AMA! [10/03/2022]
byu/AlphaTauriF1 informula1
Gasly’s ‘yelling’ is a trait now attributed to Tsunoda himself. The 24-year-old is regarded as a driver who easily loses his cool and is infamous for his swearing rants on the team radio. This is something that is being singled out as a factor for him getting snubbed by Red Bull once again.
Red Bull face massive backlash for snubbing Tsunoda again
Earlier this month, the Milton-Keynes-based outfit announced that Sergio Perez would not be driving for the team in 2025. Naturally, his successor was named from RB but it was not Tsunoda. Instead, it was his relatively inexperienced teammate Liam Lawson.
This decision all but confirms Red Bull’s intentions of not promoting the Japanese racing ace, much to the frustrations of his fans, who expressed the same on social media. Many prominent voices inside the paddock also raised questions about Red Bulls’ treatment of the #22 driver.
Despite having a tendency to lose his cool, Tsunoda has shown in the last two seasons that he has matured as a driver. Moreover, team advisor Helmut Marko had himself praised him for his improved temperament and results on the track.
Therefore, it seems a little unconvincing to hear about Lawson’s promotion, especially when Tsunoda has beaten every teammate Red Bull have thrown at him in the last two seasons, including the New Zealander.
