Tsunoda's "racing incident" from Mexico could hinder his Red Bull chances
F1 News
Visa Cash App RB driver Yuki Tsunoda was involved in a lap 1 crash at the Mexican Grand Prix last week, prematurely ending his race. That also came after he found the barriers during Q2, resulting in him missing out on the opportunity to make it into the final part of qualifying. The Japanese driver will need to cut these mistakes out in the final four races of the season if he is to challenge for a potential Red Bull Racing seat in 2025.
"Racing incident" derails Tsunoda's chances
At the Austrian team, there is a growing sense that Sergio Perex will be leaving, with a poor 2024 season meaning he will not see out the contract that had him signed as a Red Bull driver until 2026. Multiple mistakes and crashes, along with five Q1 exits in 2024 mean it may be the end for the Mexican driver.
Who will join Max Verstappen at Red Bull is the next question. Of course, the pool of Red Bull talent is extremely deep, but two obvious candidates are the two VCARB drivers, Tsunoda and Liam Lawson. In Lawson's first full F1 debut at the United States Grand Prix, he went from P19 to P9 with a fantastic drive, while Tsunoda could only finish in P14.
Then, a weekend that saw two crashes for the Japanese driver hindered his chances once again to be offered a promotion to the Austrian team After his lap 1 crash with Alex Albon, Tsunoda explained what happened in his view: "I just didn't have space in turn one entry. To be honest, I can't blame any drivers because Alex didn't have space as well, and it was a complete racing incident. If I was able to make the corner I would probably overtake a lot of cars, but it just didn't work."
Despite his crash in qualifying, he started right outside the points in P11 in Mexico City, a chance for a good points score. However, the chance to impress Helmut Marko and Christian Horner evaporated after just a few hundred metres. Would he do it the same way again? "Yes, probably. After all, I had good momentum from the start."
His teammate Liam Lawson also failed to score any points, partly because of a battle with Red Bull driver Sergio Perez, meaning both VCARB drivers did not have too good a weekend, keeping in mind that an opportunity with the Austrian canning giant may be on the horizon.
This article was created in collaboration with Corwin Kunst
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