Yuki Tsunoda ‘lands new F1 job’ and could race for two teams this year | F1 | Sport
Yuki Tsunoda is reportedly set to take up a new role at Red Bull for the 2025 season, working as their reserve driver.
Tsundoda is preparing to enter his fifth campaign with VCARB, but has been handed the task of performing double duties, shortly after being turned down for a spot alongside Max Verstappen.
That honour went to Liam Lawson, after the New Zealander spent the tail-end of 2024 competing alongside Tsunoda not just at VCARB, but for a place under the wings of Christian Horner and Helmut Marko.
Lawson won what was effectively a shoot-out, but the pair could yet race together again, if Verstappen were to be unable for a race.
RacingNews365 claim that Tsunoda has, internally, been named the official Red Bull reserve driver starting in March. If Verstappen or Lawson are banned or injured for a race, the Japanese star will be promoted from VCARB.
He may end up representing two different teams in the same season, with Ayumu Iwasa set to step up for Tsunoda as VCARB’s back-up.
Tsunoda out-qualified Lawson six-to-nil in 2024, while the spoils were shared on racedays, but the overlooked driver insists that he has a plan to prove the Red Bull decision-makers wrong.
“I think that part of it is kind of my fault because I wasn’t really able to perform straight away in the first year,” he told Autosport last month. “It creates a bit of an image of who I am. [In 2024], even though I was performing well, I feel like I didn’t really get credit as much as probably other drivers get, but it is what it is.
“I just naturally, just keep what I’m doing and performing well and just prove them wrong. I just try to give them fewer excuses or reasons why I am not in the seat. So, I just focus on what I can control, those things other than that, just accept the situation. I’m sure I can do a better job than what they are thinking.”
Red Bull team principal Horner admitted that it was a “tight” call to go with Lawson over Tsunoda, but the latter does have another chance to work closely with the team once again as their reserve.
“It was very, very tight between the two of them,” Horner said at the time. “I mean, Yuki is a very fast driver. He’s got three or four seasons of experience now. He did a very good job in the tyre test for us in Abu Dhabi where the engineers were impressed with how he performed.
“With Liam, when you look and go into the analytics of his race, pace was slightly better in the races that he did.
“His qualifying pace was very tight with Yuki, and you’ve got to assume that the potential with Liam having only done 11 grand prix, is he’s only going to get better and stronger. He’s shown real mental resilience and toughness. A couple of things have stood out with me with Liam – how versatile he is.”
