Former F1 team boss questions Japanese star Yuki Tsunoda's purpose at Racing Bulls: 'Why keep him around?'
By Simon Head
One of the big questions heading towards the end of the 2024 Formula 1 season was over who would occupy the second seat alongside four-time champion Max Verstappen at Red Bull.
With Sergio Perez's exit from the team confirmed, it looked like a straight two-horse race between Japanese ace Yuki Tsunoda and Australian reserve driver Liam Lawson, who had replaced the axed Daniel Ricciardo to partner Tsunoda at Racing Bulls in the back end of last season.
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Despite Tsunoda consistently outperforming Lawson on track – both in qualifying and on racedays – Red Bull opted to promote Lawson to the main team alongside Verstappen for the 2025 season.
It was a move that many viewed as a snub to Tsunoda, whose fiery persona in the cockpit may have been seen as a more disruptive influence on a team that will be all-in on helping Verstappen achieve a fifth title this season.
Former Haas F1 team principal and ex-technical operations director for Red Bull Guenther Steiner thinks that Red Bull's move to promote Lawson over Tsunoda was the wrong move, and a missed opportunity to see just how good the Japanese racer could be in a potentially race-winning car.
“I don’t think that was the perfect choice,” Steiner told GPblog.
“Everything was a compromise. It’s one of the choices.
“I’m in the opinion maybe to know that (Tsunoda) should have been given the chance. I don’t say deserved because you don’t deserve anything, I always say.
“But would have been a better bet, say we put him in the car one year, and see how he’s doing. If he’s not good, let him go.
“Now he’s sitting another year in the Racing Bull, and it’s not motivational for the guy as well.”
Tsunoda will be starting his fifth season with Racing Bulls, where he'll continue as the team's number-one driver alongside France's Isack Hadjar, who finished second in the Formula 2 championship last season.
For Tsunoda, it's a case of rinse and repeat as he faces another year of battling in the midfield and scrambling around for championship points, where he could have been mixing it with the established elite at the sharp end of the grid.
For Steiner, it makes Tsunoda's purpose as part of the wider Red Bull family much more cloudy.
“He’s doing more of the same, but he’s not exposed to (the opportunity) to make the step,” said Steiner.
“It’s like, he’s not given the opportunity, so why keep him around? I don’t know.
“His fifth year in the junior team, right? Is it a junior team, or what is it?”
There's a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel for Tsunoda, however. In addition to his main job as Racing Bulls' lead driver, he has also been appointed as Red Bull's reserve driver, which keeps him within touching distance of a race seat at the team in the event of Lawson underperforming.
But the decision also looks very much like one designed to appease a disgruntled Tsunoda, while also serving as a warning to Lawson that failure to deliver could result in a swift demotion.
It all means the dynamic on track between Tsunoda and former RB teammate Lawson could make for fascinating viewing in 2025. Expect Tsunoda to drive with a sizable chip on his shoulder in 2025. And if he and Lawson end up in close proximity on track, sparks could fly.
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