Christian Horner fears that Pink Bull’s failure to advertise Japanese star to the ‘huge group’ will trigger him to look elsewhere.
Tsunoda’s post-season outing within the RB20 in Abu Dhabi had many hoping that the teenager may substitute Sergio Perez when the inevitable occurred, nevertheless, aside from the truth that the take a look at had been deliberate a while earlier than, when the Mexican’s destiny wasn’t fairly as precarious, the actual fact is that whereas Liam Lawson is a protege of the Pink Bull younger driver programme, Tsunoda has at all times been backed by Honda.
Whereas the Austrian group appreciates his pace and dedication, followers have come to like the Japanese driver’s angle, particularly his radio outbursts, nevertheless with Lawson given the nod over the seat alongside Max Verstappen Horner believes that 2025 will likely be Tsunoda’s ultimate season at RB.
“We’re acutely conscious that if we’re not capable of present a possibility for Yuki in all honesty this yr, does it make sense?” stated the Pink Bull boss when requested if the Japanese may observe Honda to Aston Martin in 2026.
“You’ll be able to’t have a driver within the assist group for 5 years,” added the Briton. “You’ll be able to’t at all times be the bridesmaid. You have both bought to allow them to go at that time or take a look at one thing totally different.
“I feel he is very decided,” he continued. “He is aware of that issues change in a short time. Who would have thought 9 months in the past that we might be sitting right here speaking about Liam Lawson being our driver for 2025?
“Issues change shortly on this trade and he is conscious of that and he is aware of that he must be the one demonstrating that he is the one knocking on the door.
“Is nice to have Yuki nonetheless concerned with the Racing Bull scene subsequent yr,” he added. “And naturally he is on standby ought to he ever be required.”
Tsunoda’s teammate for 2025 will likely be Isack Hadjar, whereas ready within the wings is one other Pink Bull protege, Arvid Lindblad.
Requested in regards to the determination to advertise Lawson over Tsunoda, Horner stated: It was very, very tight between the 2 of them.
“I imply, Yuki is a really quick driver,” he continued. “He is bought three or 4 seasons of expertise now. He did an excellent job within the tyre take a look at for us in Abu Dhabi the place the engineers had been impressed with how he carried out.
“With Liam, whenever you look and go into the analytics of his race, tempo was barely higher within the races that he did. His qualifying tempo was very tight with Yuki, and you have to assume that the potential with Liam having solely carried out 11 grand prix, is he is solely going to get higher and stronger. He is proven actual psychological resilience and toughness.
“A few issues have stood out with me with Liam,” he added, “how versatile he’s. You set him right into a state of affairs, he will get on with it. In the event you bear in mind his debut in Zandvoort after Daniel broke his fingers, he was racing in opposition to Max on his out lap.
“He is bought that type of gritty racer mentality. He did a yr within the DTM the place he adjusted to driving a Ferrari GT automotive extremely shortly alongside Alex Albon and usually had the higher hand. And once more, his race-craft has been actually considered one of his key strengths. So he isn’t afraid to go wheel-to-wheel and even rub wheels the place needed. So I feel he will do an important job for us. The engineers have loved working with him by the working that he is carried out this yr. He is bought a great work ethic as nicely.”
Nevertheless, when it comes to pushing the New Zealander, Horner admits that classes have been realized when it comes to his predecessor.
“I feel the important thing factor is to not put an excessive amount of stress on him and to not put an excessive amount of stress on himself that he is going out in opposition to the perfect driver of his technology.
“I feel that he simply must virtually ignore the info of what is going on on on Automotive 1 and simply focus together with his personal engineering group, what he is doing, and simply do the perfect job that he can and he’ll be high quality. And hopefully we will assist him in that.
“Hopefully we’ll have the ability to present a automotive that fits him in addition to Max subsequent yr, and we’ll see how he goes.”
