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RB CEO Peter Bayer has given an update on the future of Yuki Tsunoda for the second half of the season and 2025.В?
With Sergio Perez continuing to underperform in the second Red Bull seat, rumours circulated that he would be dropped after the summer break. Red Bull quashed these rumours by confirming he would race alongside Max Verstappen for the second half of the season. However, hisВ?chances of retaining his seat in 2025 look precarious.
The announcement put to rest any suggestion that RB’s Yuki Tsunoda was in line for a shock mid-season promotion. Tsuonda has comfortably been the fastest of the two RB drivers this season. He currently lies ten points ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in the standings ahead of the next race at Zandvoort.
Tsunoda is one of several drivers in the frame for 2025 should Perez lose his seat. However, he is not the first choice to be Verstappen’s teammate, as Ricciardo and reserve driver Liam Lawson are in the frame.� To raise his profile, Tsunoda has recently said he knows he needs to perform in order to secure the coveted seat.�
Backing from his team
His current team have now provided an update on his future. Speaking to motorsport.com, Bayer said he believed that Tsunoda’s strong performances will eventually pay off:
“Helmut [Marko, Red Bull’s motorsport advisor] said it himself, in German, you say a swallow doesn’t make a summer. What it means is that if Yuki keeps racing on this level consistently, he will be considered for a seat in Red Bull Racing.
“That’s ultimately exactly our mission and the mission we’ve been given by the shareholders, and if that means that he needs another season next to a very strong Daniel, that could be an option.”
However, Bayer tempered this by reiterating Red Bull has “other options” available:В? “It could also be an option [to] say that, okay, we now believe he’s ready. So [then] we’ll talk to Liam [Lawson]. We’re not in a hurry, despite all the people [who] think we are, because we do have all the options in our hands.”
RB Team Principal Laurent Mekies also praised his driver, calling his development “phenomenal”. He added Tsunoda is “mega ambitious” about his future:
“You expect a lot of things from a young guy between the first and the second year, maybe between the second and the third year,” Mekies said. “But you don’t expect that sort of phenomenal step between third and fourth, so – yes, he’s faster. Yes, he’s calmer. Yes, he’s better integrating the team, better feedback, hopefully happy!
“But seriously, he has been a reference point in the way that he gets out of the garage on Friday FP1 – and, bang: the first lap, he is there. Yuki is a Red Bull driver. He must have the ambition to drive for Red Bull Racing. If he doesn’t have that – it’s wrong.
“Was he fully happy to extend with us to drive for us next year? Yes, [and] it’s a question for him but because what he tells us is that he is mega ambitious, he can see a team [that] is mega ambitious and the fit is obviously working.
“It helps him develop, he has paid us back with quite [an] incredible level of performance.”
Feature Image Credit: Red Bull Content Pool/Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images