The news that Red Bull have extended Sergio Perez’s contract until the end of the 2026 season was a bitter blow for Visa Cash App RB driver Yuki Tsunoda.
After four seasons with Red Bull’s sister team, Yuki Tsunoda couldn’t have done much more to convince Christian Horner and Helmut Marko that he deserved a promotion after having his best F1 season to date.
Journalist Joe Saward reacted to the news about Sergio Perez on social media and how it might affect the Japanese driver’s future.
Unsurprisingly, in a volatile driver’s market, Tsunoda’s form has caught the attention of several other teams on the grid.
More than half of the seats for 2025 have now been confirmed, but every team in the bottom half of the championship still has at least one signing to make.
Audi are looking for a teammate for Nico Hulkenberg for next year with Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu unlikely to be retained.
That’s where Yuki Tsunoda comes into the equation and while he might be the answer to that problem, Red Bull are unlikely to make it easy.
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Yuki Tsunoda could be an option for Audi after Red Bull snub
Although there were high hopes for RB at the start of the 2024 season, few F1 fans would have seen Yuki Tsunoda’s incredible upturn in form coming.
Daniel Ricciardo was expected to outclass his teammate after getting a full pre-season under his belt after being parachuted into the team halfway through 2023 to replace Nyck de Vries.
The Australian hasn’t been able to extract the same amount of speed out of the VCARB 01 compared to Tsunoda too and has fallen well behind the 24-year-old in the Drivers’ Championship.
Both RB drivers are out of contract at the end of the season, although Ricciardo is Christian Horner’s man and he might make a strong case to keep the eight-time race winner.
They would also be silly to let Tsunoda go for nothing at the end of the year considering how well he’s driving this season.
The trouble is Liam Lawson has a clause in his contract guaranteeing him a race seat for 2025.
It means one driver is going to miss out, but Saward believes that Audi might offer Red Bull a lucrative solution to this problem.
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Audi could consider buying out Yuki Tsunoda’s RB contract
Reacting to the news that Sergio Perez had signed a new deal, Saward said: “I’m also hearing that Red Bull won’t release Yuki [Tsunoda] for Audi, which is interesting because it now has three drivers for two RB seats… unless, of course, Audi buys him out…”
Audi aren’t short of cash with the German manufacturer heavily investing in the current Sauber team.
Sauber need as much help as they can get right now considering they’re rooted to the bottom of the Constructors’ Championship and were well off the pace of the rest of the grid in qualifying.
Adding Yuki Tsunoda to their line-up would strengthen their prospects and Red Bull are unlikely to turn down an offer for a driver that would help them overcome a tricky situation.
Tsunoda also has other potential options on the grid if he decides to leave RB including Haas.
Audi are also assessing their options and are long-term admirers of Carlos Sainz.
Esteban Ocon is also on Audi’s shortlist after announcing he’ll be departing Alpine at the end of the season.
Although the 2025 grid is beginning to take shape, there are still plenty of moving parts.
The post ‘I’m also hearing’: Journalist shares his latest Yuki Tsunoda to Audi information after Red Bull snub appeared first on F1 Oversteer.