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Red Bull Academy driver Yuki Tsunoda wants his future to be in the senior team one day as he gets ready for another campaign with the sister team V-Ca-RB. The young Japanese driver has been part of the Faenza-based squad since 2021 and has matured into a very reliable driver.
He began his journey alongside Pierre Gasly in 2021 when he was a tad inexperienced, and it showed in his racing. As his career has evolved, so has his racing. Since Gasly's departure from the Red Bull umbrella in 2022, Yuki Tsunoda has had multiple teammates.
It started with Nyck de Vries at the beginning of the 2023 F1 season, followed by Daniel Ricciardo and Liam Lawson. Against all of these drivers, Tsunoda has measured up impressively, and as a result, he was in contention to be Sergio Perez's replacement for the 2025 F1 season.
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The seat did not go to him as Christian Horner and Helmut Marko went with Liam Lawson for 2025, but the Japanese driver has not lost hope. When questioned about where his future lies, Tsunoda once again had the Milton Keynes squad as his target. He told the media including Motorsport:
“It depends upon my performance, [like] every season. Obviously, I would like to stay at the Red Bull family. If I'm at Red Bull Racing, that's amazing. If not, still I would still love to be part of this team [Racing Bulls]. I've been in this team [for] five years already. I'm probably [the] most [longest-serving] driver in this team."
He added:
“I already feel like I'm connected to every person, which is for me very important as a driver to develop myself and focus on what I want to do. I feel a lot of support from them, which means a lot to me. Whatever happens there's going to be interesting options, but obviously my main target is to be in this team, the Red Bull family.”
Tsunoda not too focused on the Red Bull snub
Yuki Tsunoda did end up losing out to Liam Lawson for a seat alongside Max Verstappen. The reasoning given by Helmut Marko was that the team was impressed with the Kiwi's ability to handle pressure.
The Japanese driver is, however, not too focused on what happened in the past and is rather looking forward to the challenge in front of him. He said during the same media interaction:
“I've already kind of parked last year’s things [out of the way], it's been away from my head. The moment they officially announced it, I didn't feel super, super angry or disappointed. I was prepared inside of my head at some point. In the end, if I go to Racing Bulls, VCARB or Red Bull, the things I have to do are the same. Both ways you can do pretty cool projects anyway."
He added:
“Maybe if I was at Red Bull, I would be team-mates with Max, which is not easy. But at the same time, it's a cool thing and you can prove yourself at a different stage."
Yuki Tsunoda would be paired with rookie Isack Hadjar for the 2025 F1 season where he will try to show improvement once again and make an impression on the team.
