Hill speculates on Verstappen's influence on second Red Bull seat
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- Corwin Kunst
Yuki Tsunoda, to his own frustration, gets little attention from the brass at Red Bull Racing: Helmut Marko and Christian Horner. Whereas Daniel Ricciardo still has frequent contact with the duo, that is not the case for the Japanese driver. Damon Hill sees that it is going to be a tricky story for Tsunoda and advises him to give Aston Martin a call.
"If I were him, I would call Aston Martin now because he is Japanese and Honda is coming up," Hill alludes to the engine deal that goes into effect from 2026. Tsunoda scored twice as many points for Daniel Ricciardo in the first half of the season, but it seems - apart from the fact that Perez is fixed for now - he does not have to count on a promotion to Red Bull.
"He's right that he doesn't get it, neither do I," the one-time world champion continued."It doesn't really make sense either, but when you see pictures of Max leaving the circuit in the helicopter with Daniel Ricciardo and they are all laughing, you get the feeling that Max is quite happy with Ricciardo as a teammate. If his influence in the team is so great that he can almost influence that decision, then I do think the pressure is there to bring Danny [Ric] in."
Red Bull needs to start scoring points
A switch of Ricciardo from Visa Cash APP to 'big brother' Red Bull is not on the cards at the moment anyway. Perez will be given time by the Austrian team to perform better even after the summer break. They will have to, as McLaren has cut the gap to Red Bull at the top to just 42 points.
"It will be very difficult for them to keep McLaren behind them. We still have a lot of races to go and they have found the right window now. And Mercedes is also coming up now. So I think the crop for constructor points for Red Bull is getting smaller," Hill said.
This article has been written in collaboration with Ben Stevens