Carlos Sainz was not the only Formula 1 driver ignored by Red Bull when they extended Sergio Perez’s contract. One of the team’s own drivers was also left out.
Yuki Tsunoda’s impressive work at Red Bull’s sister team seems to have gone unnoticed, leaving him with little chance of being considered by Red Bull Racing. Despite outperforming his teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, Tsunoda has accepted that the promised land is out of reach. Ricciardo, who was hoping to challenge Perez for a spot alongside Max Verstappen, is also resigned to this fact.
Red Bull’s lack of interest in considering Tsunoda for their main team is essentially a refusal to promote him. While this goes against the DNA of the junior team training drivers for the senior team, it is argued that Red Bull wants RB to become a stronger entity on its own. However, this leaves Tsunoda in a tough position. He has no realistic future at Red Bull, the team he truly wants to race for, and is attracting interest from several rival teams. Haas, Alpine, and Sauber/Audi are believed to have considered Tsunoda for their 2025 options, but Red Bull has the option to keep him for the next season.
Even if Tsunoda wants to leave and is the top target for another team, he cannot do so without Red Bull’s permission. Helmut Marko’s statement that Tsunoda is “set” for 2025 suggests that Red Bull has no intention of letting him go. Tsunoda himself has not signed anything and hopes to have a formal discussion about his future.
Although staying at Red Bull is not the end of the world for Tsunoda in the short term, it may not be the best solution in the long run. Red Bull is currently a better team than any of the others he could transfer to, and he has a strong bond with the team that has supported him for a long time. Ensuring his future with Red Bull is his top priority. However, being at Red Bull has a performance limit, and the team will lose their Honda engines in 2026, which is significant as Honda is a big supporter of Tsunoda.
Tsunoda does not want to give up hope of a place at Red Bull in the future, as he believes it is his only realistic chance of a big contract in Formula 1. He deserves more recognition for his performances and his clear advantage over Ricciardo. Instead of year after year of uncertainty, Tsunoda hopes for a new type of agreement with Red Bull with a greater commitment, triggered by interest from other teams. He wants to see more commitment from Red Bull in his contract and hopes that strong performances this year will lead to negotiations with the team.
Tsunoda is doing very well to avoid being stuck in a career limbo, especially since his value in the driver market is high.
