Christian Horner keeping ‘close eye’ on Yuki Tsunoda after Red Bull snub
Christian Horner revealed that Red Bull will closely monitor Yuki Tsunoda despite snubbing him for a promotion to the parent team.
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Christian Horner and Yuki Tsunoda (via IMAGO)
Yuki Tsunoda faced a disappointing situation heading into the 2025 season after he was snubbed from a Red Bull promotion. The Japanese driver, despite outscoring a majority of his teammates at RB (previously AlphaTauri) could not score a promotion. Hence, amidst preparations for the coming season, Christian Horner claimed that the team kept an eye on the 24-year-old.
Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson were the two frontrunners for replacing Sergio Perez at Red Bull. Lawson performed better than Tsunoda, ultimately giving the former a chance. Christian Horner, who previously revealed RB’s debutant Isack Hadjar being faster than the Japanese, put forth a positive situation for the former.
Horner highlighted that Tsunoda still remained in Red Bull’s pool of drivers if Lawson failed to perform well. However, the Red Bull boss noted that the team’s main priority was their own race drivers. The 51-year-old asserted that Milton Keynes would keep a close eye on the Japanese driver and even Hadjar.
Yuki is in the pool, [but] our priority is on our race drivers. Yuki is a very talented driver and we’ll be keeping a close eye on him, and Isack Hadjar as well.
Christian Horner told F1 Oversteer
Christian Horner hits out at Yuki Tsunoda’s long stint at RB
Yuki Tsunoda joined AlphaTauri in 2021 alongside Pierre Gasly back then and started to perform well. Since then, Tsunoda has fared well against a majority of his teammates, including Daniel Ricciardo and Gasly. However, with no promotions yet, Christian Horner claimed that a driver couldn’t be on the support team for over five years. The 51-year-old believed that the Japanese couldn’t be the ‘bridesmaid’ all the time as the team must look for another driver if he fails to be promoted soon.
You can’t have a driver in the support team for five years. You can’t always be the bridesmaid. You’ve either got to let them go at that point or look at something different.
Christian Horner noted
RB’s performance in the 2024 season was mediocre at best especially due to the mid-season driver changes. Regardless, Tsunoda showcased great speed and is highly likely to deem a great start to the upcoming season. Time will tell if the 24-year-old receives an opportunity to move up the chain or consider joining other teams on the grid.
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Aditya Pandya
(1497 Articles Published)