Tsunoda under pressure? Marko hints at promotion for young star in 2026
F1 News
In F1 things can take a turn for the worse rather quickly, which seems to be the case for current Racing Bulls driver, Yuki Tsunoda, who just a few weeks ago looked like a strong candidate for a promotion to Red Bull Racing, now seems to be facing a potential exit from his current team after his contract comes to an end in a year's time, in favour of a Red Bull junior talent who's catching Helmut Marko's eye due to his sheer speed.
Following Liam Lawson's promotion to Red Bull Racing's announcement, Christian Horner, the Austrian team's Chief, questioned the need to keep Tsunoda in Racing Bulls. "We're acutely aware that if we're not able to provide an opportunity for Yuki – being, in all honesty, this year - does it make sense [to keep him]?," pondered the Red Bull team boss to The Race, before elaborating on the reasoning behind his questioning of the Japanese driver's future with the team beyond 2025. "You can't have a driver in the support team for five years. You can't always be the bridesmaid. You've either got to let them go at that point or look at something different," he concluded.
Why the need for Lindblad to get a superlicense this year?
Now Red Bull Chief advisor, Helmut Marko, also seems to add fuel to the speculative fire spreading around Tsunoda's potential exit from the team. To the Inside Line F1 podcast, the Austrian reveals a plan for Arvid Lindblad, Red Bull junior talent who will make his debut in F2 next year, to score enough points to get a superlicense this year.
“He is doing a very good preparation. The test was okay, we are doing a special programme for him, sending him to New Zealand in this [Formula Regional] championship and the goal is to win it so he gets the necessary points for his superlicence,” explained Marko.
However, the Red Bull Advisor dials down the team's expectations on the British junior talent. "We are not looking for a new Max [Verstappen], we are looking for a new champion," before describing Lindblad as promising to that effect.
Why are Marko and Red Bull excited with Lindblad?
Marko is clear when speaking about what makes Lindblad such a promising talent, “what is making him outstanding is his pure speed,” after which he shared a remarkable feat by the British junior talent."In one of the Formula 3 races he overtook in one lap, I don’t know, 10 or 14 other drivers,” he explained. “He won the race from being last in these tricky conditions: wet, dry and so on," the Austrian concluded.
It is worthy of note that Lindblad is yet to win a single championship after graduating from gokarts and making the step into formula cars. However, neither did Max Verstappen, and it didn't seem to hinder him none.
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