Red Bull's internal power struggle continues, Tsunoda the victim?

After Verstappen, Tsunoda has been the most consistent of the four drivers under contract at Red Bull this season. In most Grands Prix, the little Japanese managed to outperform his more experienced teammate Daniel Ricciardo. Moreover, he captured almost twice as many points (20 to 11) as the Australian. That the latter therefore does not seem to be in the picture to possibly succeed Perez is thus easy to explain. That Tsunoda does not appear to be an option either is a lot more surprising at first sight. Especially considering who is.

Lawson Horner's candidate, Tsunoda Marko's

Liam Lawson is the leading candidate to succeed the Mexican in the event that Perez is sent off; a relatively inexperienced driver who has barely driven five Grands Prix and is preferred to a fast driver with 78 GP weekends to his credit by now. Well Lawson, no Tsunoda is yet another outgrowth of the internal power struggle currently still raging behind the scenes. It is anything but a secret that team boss Christian Horner and external adviser Helmut Marko are no longer on the same page, and upfront, Yuki Tsunoda is the brunt of that.

In the past, Marko had the main voice in appointing the drivers of both Red Bull teams. Since Red Bull's co-owner Dietrich Mateschitz passed away, the Austrian's influence has been duly curtailed and Horner has taken on this task as well. It is therefore Horner who will soon make the final decision on whether Perez can stay and who, if any, will be his replacement. Lawson is Horner's choice, Tsunoda Marko's.

No communication between Horner and Tsunoda

Whatever Tsunoda does and how well he performs, Horner for some reason does not see it in the Japanese driver. GPblog has even learned that the team boss completely ignores Tsunoda and never exchanges a word with him. The fact that the 24-year-old driver does get to race at VCARB is purely down to the fact that it does engine supplier Honda a big favour.

Knowing that Horner never sees Tsunoda moving on to Red Bull Racing, it is all the more remarkable that the Japanese driver in '25 is allowed to stay on at what is primarily the training team - VCARB that is. Recently, Red Bull lightened the option in Tsunoda's expiring commitment, ostensibly in an attempt to make a lot of money on him.

Indeed, Tsunoda was high on Audi's list as Nico Hulkenberg 's future teammate and with an ongoing contract, the Germans could be asked for a transfer fee for Tsunoda. Audi was surprised by the sudden lifting of the option in the contract - because they too knew Red Bull had no long-term future vision for Tsunoda - but immediately (and for now) deleted Tsunoda from the wish list. So Tsunoda is stuck with the Red Bull family for at least one more season, even if there is no possibility of progression to Red Bull Racing.

With his strong statements last Thursday at the Hungaroring, Tsunoda at least got off his chest and let it be known: Hey, I'm here too!