F1 star should be hunting next team ALREADY despite 2025 drive

Christian Horner, Red Bull, Las Vegas, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 Features

F1 star should be hunting next team ALREADY despite 2025 drive

He's been overlooked massively in recent seasons

Originally written by Simmey Hannifin Donaldson. This version is a translation.

Sunday 5 January 2025 04:00

With one of the busiest off-seasons of driver transactions in recent memory finally in the rear view mirror, Formula 1 will look very different this year.

In fact, the action started before the 2024 season even started, with Lewis Hamilton announcing his move to Ferrari all the way back in February.

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So much so that just 14 of the 20 drivers who started the 2024 season are set to remain on the grid in 2025, and even then, three of those will be lining up for new teams.

Yet, whilst most drivers will be fully focused on the new season as we head into the new year, arguably, one F1 star — Yuki Tsunoda — should already be making plans for 2026, trying to manoeuvre his way out of his current environment due to several factors.

Lewis Hamilton is officially a Ferrari driver

The 2024 season-ending grid still looks very different to 2025

Overlooked for Red Bull promotion

In fact, ever since Pierre Gasly left the team ahead of 2023, whoever Red Bull have thrown at Tsunoda — be it Nyck de Vries, Daniel Ricciardo or Liam Lawson — he has coped with admirably.

Tsunoda's performances were so much better than the former two names listed that both drivers went on to suffer mid-season sackings, for example, whilst he seemed to be getting the better of Lawson at the back end of this season, as highlighted by the graphic below, which shows it was 4-2 when it came to race finishes between the pair in 2024 and 6-0 when it came to qualifying.

A full season for Yuki, six races for Liam ⚔️

Here's how @visacashapprb's duo ended the season 👇#F1 pic.twitter.com/TwTUoVoeXo
— Formula 1 (@F1) December 21, 2024

Not to discredit Lawson in any way, who did a fine job stepping in mid-season once again, but when there is a clear pattern of results, it is clear who is the better driver right now, and, bizarrely, Red Bull have opted against putting him alongside Max Verstappen next season.

It marks a general trend when it comes to the second Red Bull seat, however, with Tsunoda often overlooked even when it comes to speculation surrounding the seat, never mind actually being in contention for a promotion.

And, if it wasn't insulting enough losing out on the seat to your team-mate who has started just 11 grands prix, whilst you have started 87, Christian Horner's comments on the matter afterwards must have been a real kick in the teeth.

Brutal Horner comments

Naturally, when Lawson received the promotion to Red Bull and not Tsunoda, Horner was quizzed massively on the matter, and in one interview, he was brutally honest, suggesting Tsunoda may not even have a future within the 'B' team.

"We're acutely aware that if we're not able to provide an opportunity for Yuki [at Red Bull] in all honesty this year, does it [keeping him on] make sense?" Horner told the media.

"You can't have a driver in the support team for five years. You can't always be the bridesmaid.

"You've either got to let them go at that point or look at something different."

Christian Horner suggested Tsunoda may not have a future at Red Bull

Whilst there may be an element of truth to Horner's comments in that you cannot keep a senior driver within the junior team forever, the timing of his comments were wrong, and the brutal nature of them hardly necessary.

Having stayed relatively silent on Sergio Perez's woeful 2024 season for so long, here was Horner suddenly gunning for a driver who most considered to have had a decent season and developed a lot in 2024.

Ultimately, these comments, combined with the fact that Tsunoda was overlooked for Liam Lawson, arguably demonstrate Red Bull do not see the Japanese driver as a strong option for their main team in the future, and with that said, he may soon find himself out of a seat at VCARB soon, too.

Heading into 2025, then, Tsunoda should already be keeping a firm eye out for potential vacancies for 2026 and a move away from the Red Bull family that can really kickstart his career.

READ MORE: Hamilton set to ditch key partner

Red Bull Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Yuki Tsunoda Pierre Gasly Nyck de Vries