{"id":38527,"date":"2026-01-09T07:55:03","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T12:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=38527"},"modified":"2026-01-09T10:22:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T15:22:56","slug":"f1-yuki-tsunoda-to-become-active-player-in-driver-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2026\/01\/09\/f1-yuki-tsunoda-to-become-active-player-in-driver-market\/","title":{"rendered":"F1: Yuki Tsunoda to become active player in driver market"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year saw Yuki Tsunoda become the latest in a growing line of casualties at Red Bull’s second seat. The Japanese driver was unable to secure another year with the Milton Keynes outfit, who instead opted to promote Isack Hadjar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tsunoda’s results at Red Bull were underwhelming, which ultimately tipped the scales against him.<\/p>\n

However, both within and outside Laurent Mekies’ team, there is a recognition that Tsunoda was fighting an uphill battle from the start.<\/p>\n

Given that he was consistently given slower components than Verstappen’s #1 machine, any real comparison is difficult.<\/p>\n

Due to budget cap constraints, Red Bull preferred to spend their limited budget on upgrades for Verstappen – rather than spend money on producing new parts for Tsunoda.<\/p>\n

With this important asterisk well-recognised in the paddock, Tsunoda’s market value is still considerable.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Yuki Tsunoda leads Oliver Bearman driving the (87) Haas F1 VF-25 at Silverstone. (Photo by Zak Mauger\/LAT Images) \/\/ Getty Images \/ Red Bull Content Pool<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tsunoda could revive talks that were previously shut down<\/h2>\n

At the beginning of 2024, Red Bull were in no rush to replace Sergio Perez. The Austrian squad even signed Perez to a multi-year extension in June, despite his dip in form.<\/p>\n

Of course, it became clear a few months later that Perez’s place was at risk. However, then-team principal Christian Horne<\/a>r never saw Tsunoda as a genuine contender to drive alongside Max Verstappen.<\/p>\n

This is why, despite outperforming various teammates from 2023-24, the Japanese driver was overlooked in favour of Liam Lawson for the second Red Bull seat.<\/p>\n

The decision to swap Tsunoda and Lawson in early 2025 was a last-minute attempt to salvage a situation which, frankly speaking, left Tsunoda with an almost impossible task – matching up against Verstappen<\/a> without any testing in a notoriously difficult car.<\/p>\n

To make matters worse, (after his Imola crash) only older, slower specifications were available to the #22 machine.<\/p>\n

Conscious that he was never highly favoured by Red Bull’s big decision-makers, Tsunoda evaluated his options outside of Milton Keynes in the early months of 2024.<\/p>\n

Having outperformed his recent teammates at this stage, he was attracting plenty of interest.<\/p>\n

Sauber are understood to have approached Tsunoda, whilst Haas were also keen to secure his services.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for the 25-year-old, Red Bull’s decision to activate their option on his contract (keeping him at VCARB for the start of 2025) essentially paralysed Tsunoda from making a move.<\/p>\n

Still, it is still relevant that options beyond Red Bull were available to the #22 driver. In the context of this year’s highly unpredictable driver market, more openings will likely present themselves.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Oliver Bearman driving the (87) Haas F1 VF-25 leads Yuki Tsunoda in Zandvoort, Netherlands. (Photo by Joe Portlock\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

A year of opportunity<\/h4>\n

At face value, it might be difficult to plot a return to the grid for Yuki Tsunoda. Upon closer inspection, however, there is a realistic destination for the 25-year-old in 2027.<\/p>\n

As previously mentioned, Haas were one of the team’s interested in signing Tsunoda ahead of the 2025 season. It was only when the Japanese driver became unavailable that team principal Ayao Komatsu<\/a> moved to sign Esteban Ocon.<\/p>\n

Still, Komatsu is understood to be an admirer of Tsunoda’s abilities.<\/p>\n

When asked about the possibility of signing Tsunoda in 2027, Komatsu did not rule out a move:<\/p>\n

“I can’t comment on his future, obviously he’s not our driver,”<\/em> Motorsport Week<\/a>\u00a0quotes him as saying.<\/p>\n

“2027? I think we have to focus on 2026 with our drivers, and with brand new regulations.<\/em><\/p>\n

“I think most of the drivers knew that [when they signed contracts in 2024] obviously, as they wanted to see how 2026 pans out and they wanted to pick a better team for 2027.<\/em><\/p>\n

“That’s why the driver market is going to be so open for ’27.”<\/em><\/p>\n

For obvious reasons, Komatsu is focused on his current driver pairing for the upcoming 2026 campaign.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, there is every chance Haas could have one – potentially even two – vacancies ahead of 2027. Depending on how Ferrari<\/a> perform this year, at least one of their existing drivers could leave the team.<\/p>\n

Assuming this is the case, Oliver Bearman is the leading contender to join the Maranello squad. The British driver is highly rated at Ferrari, and is seen as an important asset for the future.<\/p>\n

Ocon, meanwhile, is under pressure to improve his market value. Initially, even before approaching Tsunoda, Ayao Komatsu’s preference for 2025 was to convince Nico Hulkenberg to stay with the team.<\/p>\n

A line-up of Hulkenberg<\/a> and Bearman was Haas’ first choice before the 38-year-old signed with Sauber.<\/p>\n

This means that Ocon, who was not first choice, needs to have a better season. The Frenchman found himself a few steps behind his rookie teammate last year, especially after the summer break.<\/p>\n

If Bearman continues to outperform the Frenchman this year, it will further lower his market value – and boost Tsunoda’s position in potential negotiations with Haas.<\/p>\n

It should be noted that Honda have said they would not oppose Tsunoda joining the US Squad, even amidst Toyota’s growing influence<\/a>. Haas, therefore, represent a potential destination for the Red Bull reserve in 2027.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: F1 – Cadillac poised to make new driver signing<\/a><\/p>\n

Main photo: Andy Hone\/LAT Images (Red Bull Content Pool)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last year saw Yuki Tsunoda become the latest in a growing line of casualties at Red Bull’s second seat. The Japanese driver was unable to secure another year with the Milton Keynes outfit, who instead opted to promote Isack Hadjar. Tsunoda’s results at Red Bull were underwhelming, which ultimately tipped the scales against him. However, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":38529,"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":[2582,346,2394],"class_list":["post-38527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2026-season","tag-haas","tag-tsunoda"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38527","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=38527"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38542,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38527\/revisions\/38542"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}