Having failed to secure a seat with Red Bull’s senior team for the F1 2025 season, Yuki Tsunoda of VCARB has announced a change in his management team. Diego Menchaca, a seasoned participant in single-seater and GT racing, has taken the reins from Mario Miyakawa and Luis Alvarez as Tsunoda’s new representative. Menchaca has wasted no time in enhancing ties with Red Bull’s senior advisor and driver programme director, Helmut Marko.
Tsunoda has expressed his approval of Menchaca’s immediate proactive approach. “Once we agreed to team up, he headed straight to Helmut’s office to forge a connection. I truly value this level of commitment, and evidently, so does Helmut,” Tsunoda shared with Autosport. His sentiment reflects the significance of having a sound relationship with the team, but he acknowledges that performance on the track is the ultimate determinant of success.
Despite outperforming his 2024 colleagues, Daniel Ricciardo and Liam Lawson, Tsunoda was overlooked for a promotion to Red Bull’s senior team following Sergio Perez’s exit. Instead, Lawson was favoured, leaving Tsunoda preparing for a fifth stint with the Red Bull junior squad. The upcoming season will likely be a make-or-break one for Tsunoda, with Menchaca tasked with the vital role of securing Tsunoda’s future in Formula 1.
Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, has hinted that the 2025 season may be Tsunoda’s swansong with VCARB. Following this, he may either assume a different role within Red Bull’s operations or exit the team. Horner emphasised the importance of providing opportunities for their drivers, stating, “You can’t retain a driver in the support team for five years. They can’t perpetually be the runner-up.”
Horner also highlighted the fluid nature of the industry, saying, “Who would have thought nine months ago that we would be discussing Liam Lawson as our driver for 2025? Things change quickly in this industry and Yuki is aware of this and understands that he must be the one to demonstrate that he’s worthy of advancement.”
Tsunoda had a taste of the Red Bull machine when he took the RB20 for a spin during the post-2024 season test in Abu Dhabi. For F1 2025, he will be partnered at VCARB with Isack Hadjar, a Red Bull junior who is making his F1 debut following a second-place finish in the 2024 F2 Championship.
