Despite “destroying” Daniel Ricciardo and being up on Liam Lawson in the points, Yuki Tsunoda is ruing the “usual story” as he’s barely been mentioned for the 2025 Red Bull seat.

Sergio Perez’s failure to recover from his latest slump has raised questions about the Mexican driver’s F1 future and whether or not he’ll be in the RB21 next season.

Yuki Tsunoda: It’s just the usual story in the Red Bull family

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock

According to reports, and Helmut Marko’s hints, Perez’s days are numbered but the team won’t make a definitive decision until after the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

And then it’s a case, so it has been said, of deciding whether to continue with Perez, put Liam Lawson in the RB21 or hand it to Williams’ rookie sensation Franco Colapinto.

One driver who is not up for consideration is Tsunoda. Although he has been a part of the Red Bull family since 2021, racing for the company’s junior team, Tsunoda is not believed to be in the running to replace Perez despite seeing off Ricciardo’s challenge by 22 points to 12 and now sitting on six points to Lawson’s four.

The Japanese driver says it is the “usual story” for Red Bull.

“Some of the stories are already happening from when Daniel was my team-mate. Liam came in and suddenly he’s up,” he told the media including PlanetF1.com.

“So, to be honest, it’s just the usual story in that team, or in the Red Bull family.

“I mean, it’s a usual story. It’s like part of the motorsport, Formula 1, especially our team. And it is what it is. I don’t really think about it.”

Asked whether he believes he deserves the Red Bull seat alongside Max Verstappen, he replied: “Yeah, 100 per cent. I always say that definitely I deserve that seat and I can’t say more than that. Definitely [it’s] up to them.”

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Tsunoda is onto his third VCARB team-mate in two seasons after Nyck de Vries was dropped in favour of Ricciardo before the Aussie suffered the same fate to Lawson.

But while Ricciardo was mentioned for the Red Bull seat, brought back into the fold in the hope that he would challenge for Perez’s seat and give Red Bull an alternate option, it’s now Lawson who is said to be leading the running. And all the while Tsunoda is beating them all in the Drivers’ Championship.

That was a bone of contention for the 24-year-old, who admits it got to him earlier this season. Now he’s just determined to keep “destroying” any competitor who Red Bull throws at him.

“There was a time that I probably started to get impatient, probably just before the summer break. But this thing, like I said, I recognise I can’t control. And, it’s just part of the life, this life,” he said.

“I just have to keep doing what I’m doing. I’m the one who’s racing still now and whoever they keep sending as driver to beat me, whatever, I just keep destroying them so that’s what I’m going do.”

Tsunoda will remain a part of the Red Bull organisation next season having already been confirmed as a VCARB driver.

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