NEW TIMES ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT MIAMI RACE WEEK 2025 GUIDE 8 May 1-7, 2025 HOT SEAT Yuki Tsunoda at last has the job every Red Bull junior driver wants. But can the mercurial Japanese racer hang on to a seat that the Oracle Red Bull Racing team principal calls the “toughest in Formula 1”? YUKI WORDS BY JUSTIN HYNES YUKI TSUNODA IS LIKE FORREST GUMP’S infamous box of chocolates—you never know what you’re going to get. For four often turbulent seasons, the Japanese driver toiled away at Red Bull’s second-tier F1 team in a bid to prove himself to be the ideal sparring partner for Max Verstappen. Throughout his time at AlphaTauri and then the Visa Cash App Racing Bulls, the luster of his ascendance has waxed and waned, to the point where, despite a strong 2024 campaign, he was passed over for selection as the second driver for Oracle Red Bull Racing following the departure of Sergio Pérez. A month ago, however, everything changed. Liam Lawson, who was initially paired with Verstappen, endured a nightmare start to his first campaign with the senior squad. Eighteenth and 20th on the grid in the opening two races (where Verstappen qualified third and fourth), the New Zealander then crashed out of the opener in Melbourne and finished 12th out of 16 finishers in China. A few days later, following one of the toughest driver decisions in team history, Lawson was sent back to the Racing Bulls as Tsunoda was headed the other way—to the seat he has coveted for four years, to Japan and a team debut in front of his home crowd. There he would be judged against a teammate who is widely regarded as one of the sport’s all-time greats. No pressure then. At least not for Tsunoda, who opened his box of chocolates and chose one that beautifully defused the tension around the biggest moment of his career. “It feels similar to when I was at VCARB,” he said without drama. “Once I entered hospitality, I was feeling the same; I was only thinking about breakfast. There’s not much point in feeling pressure. I’m feeling confident and hope I can do something different from other drivers.” The question now is whether that is possible. Team principal Christian Horner is not wrong when he casts the seat alongside Verstappen as the toughest in Formula 1. While Daniel Ricciardo outscored the Dutchman in the first two years of their pairing, back in 2016 and 2017, by the following season Verstappen had the upper hand. Rightly or wrongly (depending on who you talk to), the Australian felt the team was being built around Verstappen, so in August 2018 Ricciardo pushed the eject button and committed his future to Renault. Replacement Pierre Gasly lasted just half a season before he too succumbed to the weight of expectation—and the driver drafted in to replace him, Alex Albon, fared only marginally better as he hung on until the end of 2020. Sergio Pérez grittily ground out four up-and- down seasons, but eventually he too found the competition too hard, and in 2024 his form slumped so badly that by the end of the year the two-year contract extension he’d signed midway through the year was being torn up. So with all that history, what makes Tsunoda any more likely to prosper? According to Gasly, who partnered with the Japanese driver at AlphaTauri in 2021 and 2022, it comes down to one element: pace. “He’s got the speed,” says the Frenchman, now at Alpine. “I’ve always backed him. I raced against him and with him for two years. I’ve seen his raw speed. I’ve seen what he is capable of doing. I’ve always said he was an extremely fast driver. I also think he’s got a strong character.” From his own fraught months at Red Bull Racing, Gasly knows, however, that there is more to the task than just pace. “Does it mean it’s going to be successful with Red Bull Racing? No. Can he be successful with Red Bull Racing? Yes,” says Gasly, answering two of his own rhetorical questions. “But it’s slightly more complicated than that. I just wish him the best. We spoke on the phone—about the way I was also given this opportunity and just in terms of what didn’t quite work out and things that could have been different. I shared my thoughts and my experience from my time there. Time will tell, but I think he’s definitely a very strong driver.”
