In Defense Of Yuki Tsunoda
Welcome to the Intrepid Interrobang (‽) – our repository of all things racing related which, not unlike an Interrobang, make us go “WHAT???”
This will not always be a place where logic, reason and stats win out in the end. No, this will often be more of an outlet for us to express our emotional side – the side of us that often makes us want to throw a wrench at a team principal, besmirch a team owner, or perhaps even question our faith in drivers we usually love.
And given that “silly season” came early for the end of the 2024/beginning of 2025 season, I can think of no better place to drop the largest of interrobangs: The Irrational Driver Politics of Red Bull Racing & VCARB.
Let’s recap where things stand now: The racing of the 2024 season had barely finished. We were two weeks removed from the season ender in Abu Dhabi, and Sergio Perez had been bullish (pun very much intended) about the firmness of his position within the Red Bull organization. He had 152 points in the World Driver’s Championship standings – over double that of Fernando Alonso, and nobody was questioning his job security, right? What did Perez have to worry about? Nothing, as far as the Mexican driver was concerned. He even went so far as to post GIFs on Twitter from “The Wolf Of Wall Street”, indicating that he was NOT leaving.
Then, as all paddock rumors do, rumblings started circulating among the press. Those rumblings then became rumor, and those rumors had a face & a name, specifically that of Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s driver advisor-in-chief. He let slip that they were considering dismissing the established Perez from his Red Bull, and in the unlikely direction one could assume the team look, replacing him with New Zealander super-sub/junior reserve driver, Liam Lawson.
“It’ll never happen” some said. “Perez brings in too much sponsor money to Red Bull”
“Lawson is too green” others remarked.
And not two weeks after the checkered flag last flew at a Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi and against all speculation & odds – Sergio Perez is an unemployed F1 driver without a seat, and Liam Lawson is trading in his six-race old white VCARB racing suit for the prestigious navy-blue suit of Red Bull Racing’s 2nd seat, and becoming teammates with 3-time World Champion, Max Verstappen. Why are we telling you two-month-old news, you ask? Because there is someone else in this Red Bull drama who was sorely forgotten in all this mess – someone with far more time on the F1 books than Lawson, more points scored in 2024 than Lawson and his predecessor (Daniel Ricciardo) combined.
We are speaking, of course, of Yuki Tsunoda.
Naturally, we could discuss his achievements that brought him to F1 – placing 3rd in the 2017 F4 championship, amassing great success in F3 series, placing 3rd in the 2020 F2 championship and then replacing Daniil Kvyat at Torro Rosso/AlphaTauri in 2021. And while his success at the junior Red Bull team has been mixed, it has shown one of Tsunoda’s greatest attributes – his consistency and ability to repeatedly score points, especially in a car that has been rather lackluster in terms of performance. It’s become evident that although the team is owned by the behemoth Red Bull parent, the junior organization is not exactly excelling at fielding a car that is competitive in any real degree.
It’s such an abysmal car, in fact, that it was handily beaten by both Haas & Alpine – competitors that each had equally terrible cars in the start of the 2024 season (probably more so in Alpine’s case)
But enough about the four-wheeled tractor of a vehicle that VCARB (or RB Honda RBPT as their name on the official scoring graph indicates) chose to field. What’s more important is that number of points that their car scored and the driver who scored them. And if you haven’t figured it out by now, the man in question did NOT get a set of prestigious navy-blue racing suits.
Of VCARB’s 46 points scored in 2024, 30 them were by Tsunoda. That’s more than his teammates, Ricciardo & Lawson’s points combined. Not only that, but in the last 10 races after this season’s summer break (Zandvoort-Abu Dhabi), Tsunoda outscored Lawson 8-4 and out-qualified Lawson in every race, even with a DNF to each of them in those last 10 races.
So, here’s my point: Red Bull Racing, in my opinion, chose the wrong man to promote up from its junior ranks – and it isn’t the first time in their history to do so. Is Lawson a great driver? Of course he is. He’s earned his seat in F1 through his remarkable talent, dedication, and raw skill. But do those things alone earn him a bump from an 8th place team to what should honestly equate to second best seat in all of Formula 1 and sidekick to one of the all-time greatest drivers?
I truly do not know. It’s probably too soon to tell for sure.
What we do know, however, is history. And what I do know with certainty is that Verstappen has an incredibly unique way of putting his teammates to shame in the most extraordinary ways & in record time, and I hope for Lawson’s sake that he isn’t next to follow in a long line of RBR drivers who didn’t make the cut. There are an incredible amount of rookies going into the 2025 season, and not a lot of seats in the cutthroat game of Formula 1 musical chairs.
Lawson has found his prestigious seat. Let’s see if not only can he keep it, but if he can manage to hold a likely very angry Japanese driver in his rearview for 2025 and after.
