Tsunoda is the only one who deserves a chance alongside Verstappen

Yuki Tsunoda is in his fourth season in Formula 1, marking the third year in a row he has taken a big step forward in his development. There continually appears to be something more to the Japanese talent, it should not be forgotten that he has only been active on the circuits in Europe since 2019.

Tsunoda developed at lightning speed and was entrusted with a seat in F1 by Helmut Marko after just one year of Formula 2 for good reason. Of course, the deal between Red Bull and Honda helped, especially when the Japanese driver drove a lot of crashes in his first year, but that Tsunoda was fast was something everyone saw.

Marko always says that a driver's pure speed is always looked at. You can unlearn drivers' mistakes, but you cannot make them faster, the Red Bull talent scout reasons. That is why Tsunoda was allowed to stay at AlphaTauri after year one.

How Tsunoda developed

Year two showed how quickly Tsunoda managed to learn. After being demolished in year one in the duel with Pierre Gasly, Tsunoda was much closer in year two. Gasly was logically still the 'number one', but it was close. In qualifying, Tsunoda was on average within a tenth of the Frenchman and in both qualifying and races, Tsunoda finished ahead of Gasly on several occasions.

When Gasly suddenly left for Alpine, Red Bull still did not quite trust Tsunoda to be the leader at AlphaTauri. That is why Nyck de Vries was appointed. Inexperienced in F1, but experienced in motorsport. However, the roles turned out to be reversed. In the half year De Vries was given the chance, he was outclassed by Tsunoda.

Red Bull thought the problem was De Vries. Surely it couldn't be that Tsunoda was now suddenly good enough to be the leader, or could he....? So it rushed to bring back Daniel Ricciardo, but he too had to give way to Tsunoda. The incident at Zandvoort did not help, but the results in 2023 between the two already spoke for themselves.

In 2024, Red Bull stuck with Ricciardo in the hope that he would regain his old form. It turned out to be vain hope. The gap with Tsunoda only widened, which also showed how much Tsunoda had developed again.

Why Tsunoda deserves a chance at Red Bull

During Ricciardo's injury, Liam Lawson was thrown into the deep end at AlphaTauri in 2023. Although Lawson impressed on his debut and then the race in Singapore, Tsunoda was clearly faster over one lap. The same was true at the end of 2024, where Lawson was once again Ricciardo's replacement. In 2024, however, the gap between Tsunoda and Lawson was even wider.

What Tsunoda has against him is his temperament. The Japanese can still be out of sorts at times. Both in the car, and outside it. Tsunoda has spoken out several times in 2024 about what he sees as Red Bull's unfair treatment and that he thinks he deserves a chance alongside Max. Anyone who sees his statistics cannot but judge that Tsunoda is right.

For anyone who looks at the numbers honestly can hardly argue that Lawson should be promoted. In all the races he has done together with Tsunoda, Tsunoda has beaten him in 9 out of 10 qualifications. In the races, the difference is slightly smaller (4-3), but Lawson has not shown he is better than Tsunoda. Maybe he will be if given time, but he can make that development better at Visa Cash App RB, and not under pressure at Red Bull Racing alongside Max Verstappen.

The same can be said of Franco Colapinto, the other name associated with the seat. There has been all the hype since his entrance, and rightly so, as Colapinto has done surprisingly well, but is that enough for a seat at Red Bull Racing? If you look at the statistics, you will also see that Colapinto is 5-2 behind in the qualifying duel with Alexander Albon. Admittedly by a minute difference, but at the end of 2020, Albon was not good enough for Red Bull. So would someone who is now beaten by Albon, and has only driven eight Grands Prix in F1, be good enough?

With the choices Red Bull Racing has, only one really deserves the chance of promotion. Lawson and Colapinto certainly deserve a seat in F1, possibly both at Visa Cash App RB though, but with what Tsunoda has shown over the past four years, he is the man who deserves a chance alongside Max. Verstappen.