Mar.13 (GMM) Yuki Tsunoda may battle to stay in System 1 after the 2025 season.
One situation is that this yr is his fifth at Pink Bull’s junior F1 group – and the door to Pink Bull Racing has closed for now with Liam Lawson’s promotion.
Crew advisor Dr Helmut Marko says it was the 24-year-old Japanese driver’s character, slightly than his tempo, that price him the promotion. “Tsunoda’s outbursts have improved,” he instructed Auto Motor und Sport, “however they haven’t fully disappeared.
“Final yr in Mexico, because the decision-making course of drew nearer, he had two fully pointless accidents. However he knew that the query was already at stake as to who would get the seat at Pink Invoice,” Marko added.
“Meaning he’s nonetheless susceptible to creating errors underneath strain. By way of velocity, he’s undoubtedly appropriate. However racing in opposition to Max (Verstappen) all the time means strain.
“Lawson is aware of that he received the seat as a result of he’s extremely mentally secure and down-to-earth. He’s anticipated to attain factors repeatedly, not to have a look at Max. That’s his position for now.
“I believe he’s sensible sufficient to know that.”
Marko mentioned Tsunoda gained’t even be known as as much as Pink Bull Racing within the occasion that both Verstappen or Lawson has to overlook a race.
“Then we have now Ayumu Iwasa as our reserve driver,” he mentioned.
“Arvid Lindblad has the factors for the tremendous license, however he doesn’t flip 18 till September. That’s why we’re at present making use of to the FIA for an exemption, which (Kimi) Antonelli received.
“We see no cause why the identical shouldn’t be true for Lindblad.”
One other main situation for Tsunoda is that his long-time sponsor, Honda, is leaving Pink Bull on the finish of the yr – and there aren’t any race seat vacancies at Aston Martin for 2026.
Actually, Honda Racing Company chief Koji Watanabe hinted a number of days in the past that Tsunoda may truly lose that backing on the finish of the season.
Some suppose that’s the reason Tsunoda made the choice over the winter to separate together with his present administration – forward of potential talks with Cadillac about 2026.
He mentioned in Melbourne: “I perceive that my future is dependent upon my outcomes. However it has all the time been like this.”
