Yuki Tsunoda must have felt absolutely betrayed by the Red Bull team. With Sergio Perez misfiring, inevitably, he will be the next driver to face the axe after Daniel Ricciardo. After all, Red Bull has a reputation for binning underperforming drivers at the drop of a hat. Just ask Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly, Daniil Kvyat and Alex Albon. So it is a miracle that Perez lasted that long alongside Verstappen.

With the Mexican driver’s exit, the question was about who would fill the void? The obvious answer would be one of the Racing Bulls drivers in the B-team. The real question was, which one? With Ricciardo out of the equation, it boiled down to the experienced Yuki Tsunoda, or up-and-coming rookie, Liam Lawson. At one point, there was even a chance of Red Bull looking outside its talent pool.

Yuki Tsunoda details growth as an F1 driver

When Perez’s departure was confirmed, many thought Tsunoda deserved a chance after being passed up a few times. Unfortunately, yet again, he was the best man and not the groom, as Lawson got promoted to Red Bull. At this point, the Japanese driver has to wonder what more he must do to prove himself. Or in the worst-case scenario, do what Gasly and Carlos Sainz did, and get out of there.

Speaking about how much he has learned since his debut, Tsunoda told Motorsport Week, “It’s more controlled. Just the general complete driver, as emotionally, consistency, energy efficiency, everything. I feel like compared to 2021 as a person as well, not just inside racing, also outside racing, I feel just a different person in a good way, I would say. More calm, yeah.”

In a sense, Yuki Tsunoda has a reputation for being very passionate and swearing a lot on his radio. Last year, he seemingly mellowed out a little, and he knows he needs to continue on that path. He mentioned about wanting to stay more focused emotionally, so that it will help his own team. According to the Japanese driver, there was no clear team leader at Racing Bulls. Plus, he was just focused on improving himself.

Of course, the task will not be easy, as he can get frustrated easily. But Tsunoda is working on that temperament. However, he is continuing to motivate himself, even though their upgrades were inconsistent. Despite that, the Japanese star is creeping ever closer to the Top 10.

Fresh season, new hopes!

Now isn’t the time to sulk about losing the Red Bull seat to Lawson. Instead, Tsunoda is already preparing for the 2025 campaign with his rookie teammate Isack Hadjar. Previewing the upcoming season, he was of the opinion that this year’s cars won’t be a giant step up from their predecessors. Over the course of last year, many teams introduced a lot of upgrades to their respective cars to make them quicker.

Owing to that, Yuki Tsunoda opined that the 2025 cars will only be marginally different from their 2024 counterparts. Which is why he hopes that his Racing Bulls team can deliver a good car with upgrades. For him, it is hugely important that he and the team get a good start to their 2025 campaign.

His only hope of getting that elusive Red Bull seat is if Liam Lawson does not keep up with Max Verstappen. The other condition is that Tsunoda performs better than Hadjar consistently. After all, Red Bull is notoriously ruthless and is no stranger to initiating mid-season driver swaps.