Honda Recommends Its Homegrown Maestro to Replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull as Post-Season Testing Yields Positive Results

Where one door closes, another door opens. Speculation is rife about Red Bull’s spot, soon to be left vacant by Mexican driver Sergio Perez. Although he has gathered 6 Grand Prix wins across 14 seasons, 2024 was not his year. Several disastrous qualifying runs and a failed bid for the constructors’ title left his racing opportunities in tatters. Already, a driver from the Land of the Rising Sun is gearing up to take his place – Yuki Tsunoda.

The Japanese racer currently drives for Red Bull’s junior team, VCARB. He has been a consistent presence on the team, having three different teammates over the past two years. Now Yuki Tsunoda is taking a step above his usual dwelling, with his homely automobile brand rooting for him.

Yuki Tsunoda rings alarm bells for Perez

Well, the alarm bells started ringing way earlier this season. Sergio Perez eroded his position in the Milton Keynes outfit not only with his own runs but also with inconsistent speed. His failure to keep up with his championship-winning teammate, Max Verstappen, at the Azerbaijan GP cost Red Bull a shot at the constructors’ title. So now Red Bull is hunting for new talent – and Yuki Tsunoda makes an impressive case. He took part in his first test for the senior team in Abu Dhabi. Tsunoda completed a total of 127 laps behind the wheel of Max Verstappen’s title-winning F1 2024 car. After the test, the driver was left beaming – although nothing is confirmed, Tsunoda’s pace might convince Red Bull.

The President of Honda/HRC, Koji Watanabe, is pouring his support for the Far East’s driver. After all, Yuki Tsunoda graduated from the Honda Racing School in 2016, and the Japanese automobile brand has always supported his FIA/F1 pursuits. Watanabe said, “From the HRC side, we believe that Tsunoda has the ability to be promoted to Red Bull and should be one of the candidates. I think that what we can do is to provide an opportunity for him to show his abilities to the world, so I asked him to participate in this test, and yesterday we were able to make it happen.” He added, “Now, all we can do is pray.”

Watanabe also dropped some optimistic hints about how well Yuki Tsunoda‘s test went. “I only met (Tsunoda) before the test, and he said, ‘I want to achieve good results. I’m going to enjoy myself.’ He said these two things, and since then, all I have is the report from the site by HRC, but he has very clearly analyzed the differences between the RB car and the Red Bull car, and has given the team very useful advice and comments on that basis. I have confirmed from the report that Tsunoda himself is very satisfied.”

Clearly, Honda is throwing its weight behind Yuki Watanabe’s success. With good reason as well, the Japanese speedster has shown remarkable prowess.

Getting up to speed with F1

Honda has watched Yuki Tsunoda grow and climb up the motorsports ranks. Ever since graduating from the Suzuka Circuit Racing School in 2016, Tsunoda has been improving. In 2017, he won the JAF F4 Japanese Championship East Series and also finished 3rd in the FIA F4 Championship. In 2018, he ended up clinching the latter title. Since 2021, Tsunoda has competed in the FIA-F1 Championship with Scuderia Alpha Tauri. For the past two years, he has competed with some high-level F1 drivers – Nyck De Vries, Daniel Ricciardo, and Liam Lawson.

Now Tsunoda is all set to partner up with a 4-time F1 Champion, Max Verstappen. His benefactor also has faith in him – Honda President Koji Watanabe showered praises on Tsunoda’s phenomenal growth. “From what I’ve seen, of course, with regards to Yuki, he showed amazing speed from Q1 (second place) at the Bahrain GP (2021) when he made his F1 debut, and I think his growth as a driver has been steadily increasing over the past four years. I met him at Imola for the first time in a while, and he seemed very relaxed, so I thought he’s become a really good driver. Including race management and race craft, Yuki now has speed, and I think he has grown a lot with age and experience, including his own self-control to manage well.”

Tsunoda spoke after his post-season test with Red Bull, saying, “The Abu Dhabi post season test has been so fun today, it’s the first time in the past four years that I have driven a different car. You can physically feel why the RB20 has been fighting for a Championship this year.” The Japanese driver had a stellar test with Red Bull and clearly sees the championship-caliber car that it is.

Tsunoda also added that he feels the car is a perfect fit for him, saying, ” feel like the car suits my driving style and I haven’t struggled much at all to adapt, even on the long runs I have been able to run consistently today and was able to feel the limitations of the car.”

Evidently, Yuki Tsunoda is on his way to potentially replace Sergio Perez. While this is bitter news for the latter, it opens up a new door of opportunities for the Japanese talent.