Last year saw Yuki Tsunoda become the latest in a growing line of casualties at Red Bull’s second seat. The Japanese driver was unable to secure another year with the Milton Keynes outfit, who instead opted to promote Isack Hadjar.
Tsunoda’s results at Red Bull were underwhelming, which ultimately tipped the scales against him.
However, both within and outside Laurent Mekies’ team, there is a recognition that Tsunoda was fighting an uphill battle from the start.
Given that he was consistently given slower components than Verstappen’s #1 machine, any real comparison is difficult.
Due to budget cap constraints, Red Bull preferred to spend their limited budget on upgrades for Verstappen – rather than spend money on producing new parts for Tsunoda.
With this important asterisk well-recognised in the paddock, Tsunoda’s market value is still considerable.
Tsunoda could revive talks that were previously shut down
At the beginning of 2024, Red Bull were in no rush to replace Sergio Perez. The Austrian squad even signed Perez to a multi-year extension in June, despite his dip in form.
Of course, it became clear a few months later that Perez’s place was at risk. However, then-team principal Christian Horner never saw Tsunoda as a genuine contender to drive alongside Max Verstappen.
This is why, despite outperforming various teammates from 2023-24, the Japanese driver was overlooked in favour of Liam Lawson for the second Red Bull seat.
The decision to swap Tsunoda and Lawson in early 2025 was a last-minute attempt to salvage a situation which, frankly speaking, left Tsunoda with an almost impossible task – matching up against Verstappen without any testing in a notoriously difficult car.
To make matters worse, (after his Imola crash) only older, slower specifications were available to the #22 machine.
Conscious that he was never highly favoured by Red Bull’s big decision-makers, Tsunoda evaluated his options outside of Milton Keynes in the early months of 2024.
Having outperformed his recent teammates at this stage, he was attracting plenty of interest.
Sauber are understood to have approached Tsunoda, whilst Haas were also keen to secure his services.
Unfortunately for the 25-year-old, Red Bull’s decision to activate their option on his contract (keeping him at VCARB for the start of 2025) essentially paralysed Tsunoda from making a move.
Still, it is still relevant that options beyond Red Bull were available to the #22 driver. In the context of this year’s highly unpredictable driver market, more openings will likely present themselves.
