Tsunoda wants to prove himself: 'To Red Bull as well as other teams'
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- Corwin Kunst
Yuki Tsunoda is still hoping for a step up, but it looks like he will 'just' drive for Visa Cash App RB in 2025. The Japanese driver is hoping to impress Red Bull even more in the second half of the season. And the other teams, he insists.
Tsunoda already has a 2025 seat confirmed at VCARB, but would have preferred to drive the RB21 next year. The 24-year-old driver expressed his dissatisfaction before the summer break that he never speaks to Helmut Marko and Christian Horner, while a driver like Daniel Ricciardo has frequent contact with the two leaders of the Austrian racing stable.
Red Bull chose Sergio Perez for the second half of the season (and 2025 and 2026), despite disappointing results. Is Tsunoda keen to prove Horner and Marko wrong? "Those things, it’s the same thing as the last three years. You want to prove not just to Red Bull, but to other teams," said Tsunoda, who has also been rumoured for Aston Martin for 2026. Indeed, Honda will from then on supply the engines to the British team where Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll are the current drivers.
"So those things are just the same as usual" continued Tsunoda, who goes on to say he will not change much about his approach. "TThere's a lot of speculation but the things I will do is the same. It's not in my control anyway so I try my best and I’ll focus on what I have to do."
Tsunoda happy with first half of season
The VCARB driver speaks of a "good" first 14 GPs of the year. "Came a little bit tricker in the last five races because of other competitors who developed quite well. They're catching up quite quickly. In the end it was very tight in the midfield. Some of the tracks didn't go as well as we wanted. Actually we were able to come back strongly in last three races as a team."
"I think it’ll be even more tough in the second half of the season. That's what I am expecting. We keep fighting for P6 in the team championship. We bring a lot of upgrades first half and I think we're expecting more to come in uh this second half so we need to maximise it and aim high," Tsunoda said.
This article was written in collaboration with Kada Sarkozi
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