{"id":30610,"date":"2025-02-20T04:45:25","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T09:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=30610"},"modified":"2025-02-20T04:45:25","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T09:45:25","slug":"yuki-tsunoda-there-can-be-interesting-options-beyond-red-bull","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/20\/yuki-tsunoda-there-can-be-interesting-options-beyond-red-bull\/","title":{"rendered":"Yuki Tsunoda: &#8220;There can be interesting options&#8221; beyond Red Bull"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Yuki Tsunoda was arguably one of the biggest losers in last year&#8217;s transfer market. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/09\/09\/yuki-tsunoda-rivals-teams-have-reached-out-to-me-in-2024\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Having received interest from Haas, Sauber and other midfield teams<\/a>, the Japanese driver&#8217;s services were undoubtedly in demand.<\/p>\n<p>However, Red Bull activated their option on his contract &#8211; preventing him from exercising alternatives in the paddock.<\/p>\n<p>With Christian Horner&#8217;s team electing to keep Tsunoda at VCARB for a 5th season, the 24-year-old faces the difficult chance of <strong>navigating a relatively stale driver market<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>Why Tsunoda is open to anything &#8211; even another year at VCARB<\/h2>\n<p>After a series of impressive seasons at the Faenza team, the consensus in 2024 was that Tsunoda deserved a chance at Red Bull.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, his strong performances against De Vries, Ricciardo and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/12\/29\/liam-lawson-driving-style-wont-be-an-excuse-at-red-bull\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Lawson<\/a> were not enough to convince the Milton Keynes team he could become Max Verstappen&#8217;s teammate.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, this is not to suggest that Lawson &#8211; who is yet to complete a full F1 season &#8211; did not show flashes of very impressive pace in 2023 and 2024.<\/p>\n<p>However, Red Bull&#8217;s reluctance to seriously consider Tsunoda rubbed many the wrong way.<\/p>\n<p>It also has <strong>serious ramifications for his career<\/strong>, considering that many of the teams who were interested in signing him last year have already agreed multi-year deals with other drivers.<\/p>\n<p>Partly because of this, Tsunoda&#8217;s aim should not necessarily be to escape the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/07\/f1-news-red-bull-2025-car-will-have-small-operating-window\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Red Bull<\/a> family immediately.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, with the 2026 regulations set to create a hugely unpredictable driver market, staying in F1 &#8211; regardless of the team &#8211; will be integral to his long-term career prospects.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"ob6-SAYNQTBg4G2gCrIBdg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2200389909\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'ob6-SAYNQTBg4G2gCrIBdg',sig:'tGT60vIKZVcRQCVv0p1H6tnkBVvhJc5zuOuwcDAGzdA=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2200389909',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>Tsunoda reflects on Red Bull position<\/h4>\n<p>Yuki Tsunoda might have limited prospects at Red Bull, but this does not mean he is opposed to another season at VCARB:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Maybe our team will change its name again next year so it\u2019s a different team! Let\u2019s see.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;<strong>It depends on my performance<\/strong>,&#8221;<\/em> he explained before the F175 event.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Obviously I would like to stay in this Red Bull family. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;If it\u2019s Red Bull Racing that\u2019s amazing &#8211; if not, then I\u2019d still love to be in this part of the team [VCARB].<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI\u2019ve already been in this team for five years and I feel connected to the people here, which is very important as a driver to develop myself and focus on what I want to do.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Whilst on a personal level, it undoubtedly will have stung for Tsunoda to be overlooked, these comments are appropriate for his current position.<\/p>\n<p>Maintaining good relations with Red Bull (especially with the question surrounding Lawson and Hadjar) could help Tsunoda have more options in a generally stagnant market.<\/p>\n<p>Staying at Red Bull for the long-term probably isn&#8217;t realistic for Tsunoda.<\/p>\n<p>However, should he comprehensively outperform rookie teammate <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/11\/tsunoda-and-hadjar-already-under-pressure-at-rb\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Isack Hadjar<\/a>, his chances of staying in F1 next year increase &#8211; even if only to serve as a reference for Red Bull to compare against Lindblad.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"nLGwLC7_Rk5bTemj1Vrw9Q\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2199771597\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'nLGwLC7_Rk5bTemj1Vrw9Q',sig:'My5ytxKJPlV4YgbnQVlQ9pe_TCgydOTFqCMatTodLSo=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2199771597',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>A pragmatic approach<\/h4>\n<p>Considering that most drivers will be on expiring contracts in 2026, the 24-year-old will almost certainly be <strong>willing to stomach another year at Faenza to better position himself <\/strong>for a move up the grid later down the line.<\/p>\n<p>Should he continue outperforming teammates, his driver stock will continue to rise across the paddock.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/01\/01\/yuki-tsunoda-these-teams-could-be-his-red-bull-escape-routes\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">this is not to suggest Yuki Tsunoda is completely without options beyond Red Bull<\/a> &#8211; which he hinted at on Monday:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;I feel a lot of support from them, which means a lot to me. <strong>Whatever happens, there can be interesting options<\/strong>.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Whilst only a few teams have seats available, Tsunoda could be among the most sought after free agents in 2025.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/10\/sergio-perez-emerges-as-early-contender-to-join-cadillac-f1-entry\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Cadillac<\/a>, for example, could be an avenue worth exploring. Having invested heavily in the 2026 regulations, the US team could be competitive in their debut season.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike rivals, Cadillac also have the luxury of being able to focus exclusively on 2026. Meanwhile, the rest of the field must divide its resources between this year and the next.<\/p>\n<p>None of this is to suggest that the US squad is necessarily Tsunoda&#8217;s ideal choice for the long-term.<\/p>\n<p>Still, should they be willing to offer him a 2026 deal, <strong>they could serve as a timely stop-gap<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yuki Tsunoda was arguably one of the biggest losers in last year&#8217;s transfer market. Having received interest from Haas, Sauber and other midfield teams, the Japanese driver&#8217;s services were undoubtedly in demand. However, Red Bull activated their option on his contract &#8211; preventing him from exercising alternatives in the paddock. With Christian Horner&#8217;s team electing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":30611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2452,78,2246],"class_list":["post-30610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-red-bull-racing","tag-vcarb"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30610"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30664,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30610\/revisions\/30664"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}