Tsunoda blames his own earlier performance for losing out to Lawson in the battle for the Red Bull seat
Ahead of the upcoming season, Racing Bulls driver Yuki Tsunoda acknowledged that he blames himself for losing out to his team-mate Liam Lawson in the battle for the Red Bull seat.
After the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Red Bull announced that Sergio Perez would leave the team despite his existing contract. The Milton Keynes-based outfit then confirmed that Liam Lawson will partner four-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen in the 2025 F1 season.
While Yuki Tsunoda made his F1 debut with Red Bull's Faenza-based outfit four years ago, the company elected to promote Lawson into its senior team despite his short spell in F1.
The New Zealand native joined the Red Bull Junior Programme in 2019 and after multiple junior formula successes made his Formula One debut with Scuderia AlphaTauri at the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix, in place of the injured Daniel Ricciardo.
He scored his first championship points in just his second outing at the Singapore GP and completed five races in all for the team. After taking up his Reserve Driver role with both teams at the start of 2024, Lawson returned to Grand Prix racing with Visa Cash App Racing Bulls with a points-scoring finish at last year’s United States Grand Prix.
While the decision might harm Tsunoda's self-confidence, the Japanese driver is proud of the performance from the last season. However, he acknowledged that his performance in his debut season might have harmed his image which possibly led to his Red Bull snub.
“I think that part of it is kind of my fault because I wasn’t really able to perform straight away in the first year. It creates a bit of an image of who I am.
"[In 2024], even though I was performing well, I feel like I didn’t really get credit as much as probably other drivers get, but it is what it is. I just naturally, just keep what I’m doing and performing well and just prove them wrong.”
