Overlooked again by Red Bull, Yuki Tsunoda has improved, but inconsistency remains a critical downside, claims senior advisor Helmut Marko.

With Sergio Perez departing Red Bull Racing after an underwhelming F1 2024 campaign where he slumped to P8 in the Drivers’ Championship standings, Red Bull looked within their own driver pool for his replacement, with Racing Bulls duo Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda the contenders. It was Lawson who got the nod.

Marko wants more ‘consistent’ Yuki Tsunoda with ‘less incidents’

That is despite Lawson having only 11 grands prix under his belt compared to Tsunoda’s four seasons with the Red Bull second team.

Tsunoda therefore remains with Racing Bulls for his fifth season, but Red Bull team principal Christian Horner suggested it will be his last, which could mean Tsunoda exits the Red Bull fold completely if they do not find a role for him outside of driving for Racing Bulls.

“We’re acutely aware that if we’re not able to provide an opportunity for Yuki – being, in all honesty, this year [2025] – does it make sense [to keep him]?” Horner said, as per The Race.

“You can’t have a driver in the support team for five years. You can’t always be the bridesmaid.

“You’ve either got to let them go at that point or look at something different.”

Tsunoda delivered arguably his strongest campaign to date in F1 2024, and it was one which exceeded the expectations of Helmut Marko, the head of Red Bull’s driver programme.

But, he sees an area which is stopping Tsunoda being the complete package.

“I think Yuki can be really fast, but it’s not very consistent,” Marko claimed on the Inside Line F1 podcast.

“But he improved in all areas. He also reduced his emotional moments on the radio, and he also improved in his technical feedback.

“So I think Yuki made a big step forward, a bigger step than we expected from him.”

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So, as Tsunoda heads into F1 2025 racing for his future in the Red Bull stable, Marko has a double challenge for the Red Bull racer, to stabilise that form and cut down on “incidents”.

Asked to identify Tsunoda’s biggest area for improvement in F1 2025, Marko replied: “More consistency.

“And I mean, he had not many crashes, but, for example, in Mexico, there had been two.

“So he must be more, as I said, consistent, and less incidents.”

With Lawson getting a promotion, Tsunoda therefore has another new Racing Bulls team-mate for F1 2025 in the form of Isack Hadjar, the Red Bull junior making the step up after his runner-up finish in the F2 championship.

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