Yuki Tsunoda has asserted that it would be a “weird” situation should Red Bull choose to promote reserve driver Liam Lawson to the parent Formula 1 team over him.
Red Bull appeared to have finalised its driver line-up heading into the coming seasons as it announced last month that Sergio Perez has penned a multi-term renewal.
For the people that say Checo is valuable to Red Bull for Mexican beverage sales, I imagine Yuki has a similar appeal.
Checo also helps with Merch sales across LatAm and India( force India days fans).
I don’t think Yuki can bring the kind of volume of merch, beverages sales and sponsorships that Checo does.
I think you are grossly overestimating the amount of fans checo has in India.
Yes yuki will bring no where near the sales that checo brings but red Bull will have to weigh that alongside the possible damage to brand value that comes with not finishing first
I have no doubt that Max will win the WDC this season, that will enough marketing for Red Bull sales. Most people don’t seem to care about the WCC.
Constructors matter more to the engine manufacturer(s) in this case Honda, which is also the biggest supporter of keeping Tsunoda on the grid. Red Bull is not continuing with Honda’s PU from 2026, why would they carry a Honda sponsored driver when there are better options available.
In my opinion it depends on Horner who has won the power struggle and is now the defacto decision maker(with the Thai’s support) of everything Red Bull does.
Does Horner want to give the Zak(most likely at the moment) or even Toto the satisfaction of taking away the constructors(reputation and money that comes with it) from his team.
Let’s see what Horner decides during or after the summer break.
They wouldn’t but 2026 is a year and a half away. Tsunoda is the perfect no risk stop gap until that time. He is clearly not seen as a long term option by red bull so they can keep him in the car while Lawson, hadjar and possibly linblad gain F1 experience. If yuki performs at a high enough level, Red Bull can think about retaining him or else they can let him go and promote one of their youngsters who will have the benefit of having 1.5 years of experience. Yuki too would be open to this because he can move on to honda powered aston in 2026. This option has no downsides for red bull atleast in a sporting context.
Don’t know about Hadjar, but Lawson has some rumored (could be manufactured by his camp to pressure Red Bull) interest from other teams, he can be an option for Alpine or Williams. He desperately wants a drive.
Lawson did perform better than Tsunoda last year, although very small sample size. Give 1.5 years to Lawson and see what they have in him. Keep Tsunoda at VCARB so the obligation to Honda is fulfilled.
Not while Lawrence is calling the shot at Aston Martin, don’t know what kind of pull Honda will have on the team. Enough to get a seat for Tsunoda, highly unlikely.
How are you claiming that Lawson performed better than yuki. Yuki out qualified him in all but one event(where he was blocked by max in the 1st run). In the races, yuki was a victim of poor luck (Monza DNS), bad strategy(Zandavoort) and people fucking crashing into him(Singapore). The 2 races (Japan and Qatar) which are actually comparable, yuki had, by a very slim margin, the better average finishing position. Lawson was pretty close (in the races at least) but claiming he was faster is just a lie.
Even if Lawson has a higher ceiling than tsunoda, throwing him to the Max infested waters of Red Bull with no preparation seems like the wrong move to me.
When did that stop Red Bull before. Currently they just need a rear gunner who will be able to fight other drivers and bring points to help them with the WCC. Either its Yuki or Lawson no one is challenging Max. They will have their mirrors or visor providing a good view McLaren,Ferrari and Merc.