What would Yuki Tsunoda have to do to get a seat at the main Red Bull team? He has been beating his team-mates consistently for a while now – Adam
The impression from the outside is that there is absolutely nothing Tsunoda can do to be considered for a seat at Red Bull – the bosses simply do not rate him highly enough.
This is why Tsunoda is looking outside Red Bull for job opportunities, even though he owes his seat in F1 to Honda, their engine partner.
Ironically, he cannot get a seat at Aston Martin, which will be Honda’s works team from 2026, because Fernando Alonso has just signed a new contract there and Lance Stroll is the son of the owner and is not going anywhere.
So, Tsunoda is looking at places such as Williams, Haas and Alpine, and it seems he has a decent chance of landing one of those seats in this summer’s driver musical chairs.
As for his performance at RB, yes, he is beating Daniel Ricciardo regularly and has put in some impressive drives this year. But this is raising more questions about Ricciardo than it is changing minds at Red Bull about Tsunoda.
At the moment, though, Ricciardo is protected by team principal Christian Horner, sources say, and is safe for now from being replaced by reserve Liam Lawson.
Motorsport adviser Helmut Marko, who would probably like to promote Lawson, has lost power and influence in the internal civil war at Red Bull that was laid bare by the allegations of sexual harassment and coercive, controlling behaviour made against Horner by a female employee, which Horner denies, and which an internal investigation dismissed.
It is not hard to imagine a Lawson and Ricciardo line-up at RB in 2025, though, if Horner does not shift his stance and Tsunoda moves elsewhere.
