Yuki Tsunoda Only in Red Bull Because of Honda’s Demands: Former F1 Boss Makes Controversial Claim

Red Bull’s newly rebranded sister team, Visa Cash App RB (formerly AlphaTauri and Toro Rosso) has always had 1 major purpose for competing in Formula 1. It is there to be a proving ground and a stepping stone for Junior Red Bull Academy drivers who want to one day make it to the main Red Bull team. We know that because Red Bull has readily swapped drivers between the two teams whenever they feel like they need to try someone out. The infamous swapping of Max Verstappen with Daniil Kvyat, and Alex Albon with Pierre Gasly are but a few examples of this.

However, Red Bull never once gave Yuki Tsunoda a shot at the main team. 2024 is going to be Tsunoda’s fourth year at RB/AlphaTauri after what many consider to be 3 sub-par seasons in the sport. And according to the former F1 boss, Eddie Jordan, Tsunoda is at Red Bull only because of Honda’s request and because Red Bull wants to keep their engine suppliers happy.

Jordan claims Honda wants there to be a Japanese driver on the F1 grid

Red Bull had a Renault engine at the back of the car when they won their first 4 championships from 2010 to 2013 with Sebastian Vettel. However, between 2014 and 2018, in the hybrid era, Renault supposedly failed to deliver on the promises to Red Bull on the engine side, eventually leading up to the end of their partnership. For the 2019 season and beyond, Red Bull chose Honda to supply their engines despite the recent horrible end to the Honda-McLaren partnership. But switching to Honda proved to be the final piece of the puzzle Red Bull was missing as they helped the team reclaim the drivers’ title in 2021.

When the partnership had just delivered its first championship, Honda announced that it would step away from the sport, forcing Red Bull to form their own engine manufacturing wing called Red Bull Powertrains. However, Honda is supposed to supply engines till the end of 2025, after which Red Bull will become a works team. In a recent conversation with David Coulthard on the ‘Formula For Success’ podcast, Eddie Jordan claimed that Yuki Tsunoda wouldn’t be in the team if it were not for Honda.

Explaining his situation with Honda back when he had his own team on the grid, Eddie Jordan said, “[Yuki] Tsunoda is in the team he is in because… Toro Rosso or call them what you want, Red Bull, as a family, they need to keep Honda happy, and that is a Honda request. I can promise you that’s the way it is because that’s what happened. They wanted to get rid of Frentzen at my team even though he was a multiple Grand Prix winner with us and he was brilliant and yet, the powers that Honda put on me was that they wanted [Takuma] Sato in the car because they needed to have a Japanese driver. It was their prerogative and I understood it.”

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Whether or not Honda has requested Red Bull to keep Yuki on the team, he believes that 2024 is the season to prove himself.

Yuki Tsunoda believes it’s time for him to “go all out”

Tsunoda finished the 2023 season in P14 despite having started with one of the slowest cars on the grid. However, as AlphaTauri started to improve the car’s performance, Tsunoda was able to score more points. Recently, Tsunoda discussed his aspirations for the 2024 season, saying that he needs to prove himself as a top driver in Formula 1.

“Next season, I think the car will be better than last year, which will give us more chances to compete in the top ten,” said the Japanese according to a report from Sports Illustrated. “This will be the year when I show that I have everything in me to be a top F1 driver. To make that happen, I will have to go all out…”

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If Jordan was right about Honda’s request to keep Tsunoda on the grid, then does it mean he has a chance to switch to Aston Martin in 2026 considering Honda’s involvement with the team from 2026 onwards? What are your thoughts on the matter?