Yuki Tsunoda made his Formula 1 debut in 2021 driving for what was then Alpha Tauri, Red Bull’s junior team. Over the years, he has made several mistakes, partly due to driving less competitive cars. Alongside those mistakes, he has also managed to bring the Faenza team into contention for high positions in the standings.
In his three years in the top category, we must highlight his first GP in Bahrain, where he finished ninth, ahead of teammate Pierre Gasly, after testing there a few weeks earlier. In fact, in the last race in Abu Dhabi, he came close to the podium, finishing in fourth place. In 2022, his performances were generally similar, and last year (as well as this season) he has clearly outperformed his teammates.
It is important to remember that this is the same driver from Canada 2022. In Montreal, he crashed into the barriers while exiting the pit lane on hard tires on a still wet track; a similar situation occurred that same year in Singapore. He is also the same driver who has often responded arrogantly to engineers over the radio.
This is Yuki Tsunoda, and perhaps for these reasons, the Red Bull team has never seriously considered him for a debut alongside Max Verstappen. In fact, in the event of a possible retirement of Perez, Marko might choose to promote Liam Lawson instead of the Japanese driver.
On this topic, former F1 driver Anthony Davidson weighed in: “It’s normal to see drivers making mistakes or crashing when racing at those speeds. Yuki has already gone through that phase, and now he is very different. Let’s say he is a finished product now.”
“Despite this, poor Yuki continues to be overlooked. He has been ignored every single time. Both Daniel Ricciardo and Nyck de Vries have had the chance to challenge him, and they were both beaten. It can’t just be a coincidence. Why isn’t he being given a chance? Why aren’t we hearing about the possibility of Yuki replacing Perez?”
“I don’t know if he would do a better job,” Anthony Davidson concludes. “In my opinion, he could handle the pressure from Verstappen because he is a tough driver.”
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