Landed in Formula 1 at 20 years old 2021 seasonJapanese Yuki Tsunoda he was labeled as a fast and aggressive driver, but penalized by his lack of consistency and his ‘hot head’. The first radio teams of the Sagamihara driver immediately went viral due to the expletives he often hurled towards the pit wall. However, it is easier to calm down a fast driver than to make a mediocre driver faster, therefore the financiers Honda of Tsunoda continued to support him in coordination with the then AlphaTauri stable who ordered the landing of Yuki a Faenza to keep him ‘under control’. It is no mystery that Yuki’s presence in Formula 1 was strongly supported by Honda, supplier of the power units to the Faenza team. If in the early days this aspect made many insiders turn up their noses, for a year and a half the facts have proved the Japanese manufacturer right and Tsunoda can be counted among the talents that have emerged in modern F1. So much so that the Faenza team also renewed Yuki for the 2025 season by exercising the contractual option.
For a year and a half, Yuki has found consistency in his results, improving his performances and becoming team captain, thanks to the ‘no’ period in which his expert teammate encountered Daniel Ricciardo. Scuderia Toro Rosso was once born on the ashes of Minardi as a Red Bull Racing junior team with the aim of testing the many talents grouped in the RB junior program. The most competitive were systematically promoted to the A team and some of them went on to become World Champions or great F1 talents. In the first case we refer to Sebastian Vettel (later Ferrari driver) and the current reigning World Champion Max Verstappen.
Around 2020, however, the satellite team of the Austrian team changed its skin and became a team in search of an identity. Not only the change of name (from Scuderia Toro Rosso it went to Scuderia AlphaTauri, now Visa Cash App RB), but also a different philosophy in the driver line-up, inserting a young driver supported by an expert one. In 2023 the ‘new formula’ did not pay off because the expert and talented Nyck de Vries did not adapt to Formula 1, obtaining results below expectations and being replaced by the returning Daniel Ricciardo, also former Scuderia Toro Rosso and Red Bull Racing.
Despite Tsunoda’s good performances, his move to Red Bull Racing seemed increasingly unlikely. In 2023 there were persistent market rumors that the Japanese tightrope walker was about to take over the seat of Sergio Pérez, Max Verstappen’s teammate in the Austrian team. Despite the Mexican’s declining performance, consultant RB Helmut Marko he never considered Tsunoda an ideal teammate for the Dutch ace. The very recent confirmation of Pérez in Red Bull despite disappointing results in 2024 seems to have definitively closed the doors to Yuki’s arrival in Red Bull (and a possible return of the veteran Ricciardo).
It seems that Tsunoda has found his ideal dimension in the middle of the group, an area of the standings to which the Faenza team is demonstrating that it can constantly aspire. However, the team boss of Visa Cash App RB, Laurent Mekies he told Autosport that he understood Yuki’s frustration at being snubbed by Red Bull. Mekies noted however that if Tsunoda continues to progress at his current pace next year he could be “hard to ignore” for Red Bull or rival teams. Mekies then added that perhaps Red Bull doesn’t yet completely trust Tsunoda, but his current team certainly does and considers him a fundamental piece to continue his growth. It remains to be seen who will join Yuki in the next F1 season. Daniel Ricciardo in Canada showed off a good performance, qualifying fifth and finishing the race in eighth place. Liam Lawson However, test driver of the Visa Cash App RB is hot in the pits and last year achieved good performances when he was called upon to replace the Australian, who was injured in the Netherlands. One factor that works in the New Zealander’s favor is his age, currently 12 years younger than the “Perth rate”. Wait and see, as they say…
