Yuki Tsunoda has done everything he can over the past four seasons to prove he deserves a shot alongside Max Verstappen next year.
Red Bull might have a vacancy alongside their Dutch legend heading into the 2025 campaign.
Sergio Perez’s future hangs in the balance after a season where he was comprehensively beaten by Verstappen.
Tsunoda has been very good this season, seeing off the threat of Daniel Ricciardo before impressing alongside new teammate Liam Lawson.
Helmut Marko has suggested Tsunoda could replace Perez, but right now he doesn’t appear to be the favourite for the role.
Lawson is the likeliest driver to race for Red Bull in 2025 despite only having 11 Grand Prix under his belt.
The Kiwi failed to outqualify Tsunoda once after his return to the grid in Austin, although he did score points on his first outing since last year’s Qatar Grand Prix.
Tsunoda also outscored Lawson across the six races they were together, however, Red Bull may have wanted to see the 24-year-old demonstrate a significant advantage over his less experienced teammate.
What Christian Horner did in Abu Dhabi that’s a bad sign for Yuki Tsunoda
After years of waiting, Tsunoda finally got to test for Red Bull during the post-season event in Abu Dhabi.
A report from Motorsport has shared more details about the day’s events and why they might not have been as possible as Tsunoda would have liked.
Tsunoda’s lap times compared to Perez’s didn’t stand out, although it’s impossible to know just how close to the Mexican’s qualifying set-up his car was during a long day of running.
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The images Red Bull posted on social media garnered significant attention from Japanese fans.
Plenty of fans were calling for Tsunoda to replace Perez after the session, but unfortunately for the 24-year-old, the most important people he needed to impress weren’t present.
The report goes on to say that Marko had already gone home on Monday evening after a shareholders meeting where the futures of both the Red Bull and RB line-ups was discussed.
Unfortunately, team principal Christian Horner and technical chief Pierre Wache had also departed the Yas Marina Circuit before Tsunoda even stepped in the car.
Christian Horner’s never been fully convinced by Yuki Tsunoda
Tsunoda is already signed up to race for RB in 2025 but as is the case with all Red Bull-contracted drivers, they can easily be switched around if and when necessary.
It means Perez could become a Red Bull ambassador should he decide not to walk away from his deal if he’s dropped from his race seat next year.
However, the trouble for Tsunoda is that if he doesn’t earn a promotion to the Red Bull team this year, he would have raced more than 100 times for their sister team.
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He’s already broken Daniil Kvyat’s record for most races taken part in for the team under its various different guises and is a long way clear of Sebastien Buemi and Carlos Sainz who drove the most Grand Prix without ever being promoted into the Red Bull team.
Horner has had concerns about Tsunoda for some time and whether he’s the right fit to race alongside Verstappen at Red Bull.
Promoting Lawson is a risk given his lack of experience, but if Horner didn’t even stick about to see how Tsunoda coped in the RB20, he’s unlikely to have much interest in handing him a full-time race seat in 2025.
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