Yuki Tsunoda awaits Red Bull’s final decision on their 2025 line-up. The Japanese driver, alongside Liam Lawson, is a leading contender to be promoted. During his post-season test in the RB20, Tsunoda impressed Red Bull.
Helmut Marko analyses Tsunoda RB20 performance
At this, there is no shortage of analysis into Red Bull’s driver situation.
The Milton Keynes squad are expected to announce either Yuki Tsunoda or Liam Lawson as Verstappen’s new teammate in 2025.
Generally speaking, team principal Christian Horner is understood to see Lawson as the best option to join the main team.
Helmut Marko has also praised Lawson’s results, though the 81-year-old has been consistently positive about Tsunoda for the last few seasons.
With this in mind, perhaps it is unsurprising to see Marko give such a glowing review of Tsunoda’s RB20 test.
As mentioned by Honda’s President in a recent press conference, the 24-year-old impressed Red Bull with his feedback in Abu Dhabi.
As speculation looms over Red Bull’s big decision, every data point must be analysed:
“We will be announcing news in the next few days about what the driver pairing will look like next year,” Helmut Marko wrote on Speedweek.
“There is a lot of speculation and transfer fees are being mentioned that are complete nonsense.
“During the post-season tests, Yuki Tsunoda was allowed to take to the track in the RB20 and the team was happy with his technical feedback.
“In this respect, he is far better than people give him credit for.”
Uncertainty looms as talks persist
It is difficult to determine whether Red Bull’s line-up for 2025 will be influenced by Tsunoda’s RB20 test.
As mentioned previously on LWOS, it was only Honda’s insistence that secured Tsunoda this run in the first place – rather than Red Bull’s eagerness to see him behind their machinery.
With this in mind, Tsunoda’s post-season test could be inconsequential in Christian Horner and Helmut Marko’s final judgement.
There is plenty of evidence pointing towards Liam Lawson as the favourite to join Red Bull.
Christian Horner’s comments throughout the year – especially those since Lawson’s arrival – make his first choice for 2025 relatively clear.
The question is whether anything has changed behind the scenes over the last few weeks.
After all, Red Bull’s announcement for next season is taking more time than initially anticipated. The expectation after the Abu Dhabi GP was that their line-up would be confirmed by the end of last week.
For reasons still unclear, negotiations are still ongoing in the background.
Still, the expectation is that Red Bull will finally end the speculation with official news this week.
