Why Tsunoda could go unrewarded for his performances

Yuki Tsunoda has limited options in the driver market despite his consistent efforts in 2024.

Despite operating at a high level in 2024, Yuki Tsunoda does not have clear options to move forward in F1. In the first six rounds of the year, the 23-year-old can be credited with immense consistency and overall speed. Ordinarily, with a vacant seat at Red Bull, this would be enough to at least be in conversations for a promotion. Regrettably, this is not the case for RB’s youngster.

Once again, the narrative surrounding Tsunoda before the start of 2024 was uninspiring. The expectation was that eight-time race winner Daniel Ricciardo would assert himself as the team leader at Faenza. By extension, the Australian was linked to a potential Red Bull seat – a sequence of events seen as feasible amidst Perez’s struggles last season.

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Tsunoda exceeds expectations

To be clear, Ricciardo has shown flashes of speed this season. Most notably, he converted a strong Friday Sprint qualifying performance into P4 on the Saturday Sprint. This secured his first points of the season and an important confidence boost after a sub-optimal 2024.

With that said, it was Yuki Tsunoda who delivered for RB in the main event. After climbing from P15 to P8 in the Sprint Race, he put himself into Q3 for the Grand Prix. This has become a relatively common occurrence for Tsunoda in 2024, who consistently maximises a competitive (though far from exceptional) AT04.

On Sunday, he crossed the line in a brilliant P7. Solid racecraft, strong tyre management and – most importantly – pure performance secured this result. Perhaps most notably, Tsunoda created a significant gap to George Russell on his final stint.

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Red Bull looks beyond the Red Bull driver pool

It would take a catastrophic and, frankly, unlikely turn of events for Tsunoda’s season to be characterised as anything other than excellent. In this context, the logical next question is what prospects lie ahead.

Regrettably, the path forward is not clear. Red Bull is understood to be evaluating Carlos Sainz as a serious alternative to Sergio Perez. Despite outperforming Ricciardo, the Japanese driver is not at the top of the list at Milton Keynes.

Christian Horner’s rhetoric has scarcely mentioned Tsunoda in the context of a Red Bull seat – certainly not with the same enthusiasm that he spoke about Daniel Ricciardo last season.

For the 23-year-old, staying at RB (amidst Liam Lawson’s unknown status) seems the most realistic immediate objective. Provided he can continue performing at this level, doors could open in the future. For now, potentially attractive seats at Aston Martin – for example – are unlikely. Elsewhere, the options available are generally either sideways or backwards steps.

In this context, Yuki Tsunoda should keep his head down and – for now – wait for a better opportunity to emerge.

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