Yuki Tsunoda remains in consideration for a Red Bull Formula 1 team promotion if he consistently delivers, according to RB CEO Peter Bayer.
In June, RB announced Tsunoda would remain at the team for 2025 and in recent weeks he’s been overlooked for a Red Bull spot with Sergio Perez’s place under threat as he underperformed.
With the Red Bull organisation planning to keep both Perez and Daniel Ricciardo at their respective teams for the foreseeable future, next year’s line-ups will take focus, particularly if Perez is unable to solve his poor form.
Bayer has said Tsunoda will be an option for Red Bull if he performs at a consistently high standard.
“Helmut [Marko, Red Bull's motorsport advisor] said it himself, in German you say a swallow doesn't make a summer,” Bayer told Motorsport.com. “What it means is that if Yuki keeps racing on this level consistently, he will be considered for a seat in Red Bull Racing.
“That's ultimately exactly our mission and the mission we've been given by the shareholders, and if that means that he needs another season next to a very strong Daniel, that could be an option.
“It could also be an option [to] say that, okay, we now believe he's ready. So [then] we'll talk to Liam [Lawson]. We're not in a hurry, despite all the people [who] think we are, because we do have all the options in our hands.”
RB team principal Laurent Mekies has rated Tsunoda’s improvement in his fourth year in F1 as “phenomenal” and has admired his ambition to move up to Red Bull.
“You expect a lot of things from a young guy between the first and the second year, maybe between the second and the third year,” Mekies said. “But you don't expect that sort of phenomenal step between third and fourth, so - yes, he's faster. Yes, he's calmer. Yes, he's better integrating the team, better feedback, hopefully happy!
“But seriously, he has been a reference point in the way that he gets out of the garage on Friday FP1 - and, bang: the first lap, he is there.
Mekies added: “Yuki is a Red Bull driver. He must have the ambition to drive for Red Bull Racing. If he doesn't have that - it's wrong.
“I hope and I trust that he wants more than anything else to drive that car to win races. We also try to help him developing him in that way. So that's what the business is.
“Was he fully happy to extend with us to drive for us next year? Yes, [and] it's a question for him but because what he tells us is that he is mega ambitious, he can see a team [that] is mega ambitious and the fit is obviously working.
“It helps him develop, he has paid us back with quite [an] incredible level of performance.”
Additional reporting by Filip Cleeren and Jonathan Noble
