Red Bull Racing Formula One driver Yuki Tsunoda has opened up about his future in the team as his current contract expires at the end of 2025. Tsunoda was promoted to the seat alongside Max Verstappen after the Chinese Grand Prix this season.
The No. 2 Red Bull seat has seen three drivers in the last year, with the Japanese driver being the third after Sergio Perez and Liam Lawson. Tsunoda is currently focusing on adapting to the RB21 F1 car. The team has faced several challenges in setting an optimal performance window where the car can deliver top performance across a variety of Grand Prix circuits.
The challenge has not only set Verstappen back but has also made the situation worse for Tsunoda, who finished ninth at the Dutch Grand Prix last weekend at Zandvoort. On the other hand, his four-time world champion teammate secured second. Speaking ahead of the race, Tsunoda was asked if he was in talks with any other team for a seat next year. He said:
“I’ll leave that with my team, my manager, I just focus on myself and my performance. My priority is to stay with Red Bull and to show [better] performance as much as possible. That’s my only focus. So, yeah, it’s not my job anyway to search around. My job is to drive fast and score points and that’s just the only things I’m working on.
“They’ll do their thing, and I’m sure my performance will help anyway in those things. So, yeah, I’m kind of looking forward for the race in the Netherlands to show my performance better.”
Tsunoda was promoted to his current seat from Red Bull’s junior F1 team, Racing Bulls. When asked about the possibility of racing for his previous team in 2026, he mentioned that the decision was in the hands of Red Bull’s senior advisor, Helmut Marko. He said:
“I don’t know, maybe Helmut is thinking in the background. I never know what he’s thinking, to be honest. But for now, I understand he’s looking for me to still show the performance.
“And I think the last two races actually, like I said, after I [was given] the upgrades, there’s some recognition that my performance improved. Actually, there’s a huge difference before that, and I think that helps him and myself, to give it more time to see how this situation evolves.
“And I think he supports me quite a lot. And, obviously, he’s also quite a straightforward guy, he’s here for the team, and he wants to have as many points as possible. So I need to perform, for sure.
“But yeah, if I understand correctly, he’s still waiting a bit of time to define what’s good for Red Bull. And I think, yeah, let’s see, for Racing Bulls or whatever, they’re performing currently quite well.
“And it’s a team that I was in for a long time. So, obviously, my main goal is to still stick with Red Bull. But yeah, let’s see.”
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