Red Bull’s confirmation that Sergio Perez has signed a contract extension until the end of the 2026 season closed off another avenue to one of Formula 1’s strongest teams for several drivers.
Visa Cash App RB has traditionally been a training ground for Red Bull to assess their brightest talents before giving them their opportunity in the sister team.
However, the last driver to make that step up was Alex Albon in 2019 and since then drivers have come and gone in the hopes of progressing their Formula 1 careers.
The latest driver who appears to be in this position is Yuki Tsunoda.
The 24-year-old has entered his fourth season driving for RB and is enjoying easily the strong campaign of his career.
He’s outclassed experienced teammate Daniel Ricciardo and sits in the top 10 of the Drivers’ Championship ahead of Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll.
Speaking on the Unlapped Podcast, journalist Nate Saunders has shared that people keep floating the idea of Yuki Tsunoda potentially joining Alpine next year.
A spot has opened up with the French manufacturer after they announced on Monday that Esteban Ocon will be departing at the end of the year.
Yuki Tsunoda’s name is being floated for a potential Alpine seat
Alpine aren’t in the strongest position in the Formula 1 driver’s market despite the number of contracts expiring at the end of the season.
The French team have only scored two points in 2024 and despite being a works team don’t appear to be taking full advantage of having complete control over the development of their car.
On paper, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon is a very strong combination but their relationship has always been strained and they’ve clashed on track several times.
Team principal Bruno Famin will want to avoid that level of friction from next season making Tsunoda an ideal candidate.
The Japanese driver is very close to Gasly due to their time together at AlphaTauri.
Both drivers race hard but are unlikely to have the same issues the French pair are currently facing.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Alpine F1 Team from team principal to lineage
Yuki Tsunoda one of F1’s most in-form drivers in 2024
Speaking about the Japanese driver’s future, Saunders said: “The Alpine situation is a weird one because those two guys are both out of contract at the end of the year, they’re both race-winning drivers there.
“I think this is a really fascinating situation, now the name that keeps being floated around in these conversations is Yuki Tsunoda.
“A guy who really wants to get free of the Red Bull program that he’s on because we know and obviously this deal confirms what we already knew that Tsunoda’s route to the top is at the very least delayed for another two years.
“But from everything we’ve heard it’s almost as closed off as you can get.
“I think he’d be a great option there, I think he’s desperate to get out of that and even though Alpine aren’t the most exciting team to join right now, joining a factory team, a team that make their own engines, there’s a lot of upside to that.
“And I think that Tsunoda would be a great driver to bring in there. He’s exciting, in a lot of form at the moment, very, very popular as well. He would tick a lot of boxes.”
Who else is in contention to drive for Alpine next season?
Pierre Gasly is expected to extend his time with Alpine beyond the end of this year despite Ocon being the slightly faster driver this season.
Alongside Tsunoda, Alpine are also assessing several other options to replace Ocon in 2025.
They’ll get a much closer look at reserve driver Jack Doohan when he takes part in FP1 at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Famin also wants to sign Carlos Sainz but F1Oversteer understands he’s very close to joining Williams.
Mick Schumacher appears to have an outside chance of earning a return to the F1 grid, while Valtteri Bottas is in contention for several different teams including Alpine.
The post ‘Really fascinating’: Yuki Tsunoda’s name ‘keeps being floated’ as potential option for RB rivals – journalist appeared first on F1 Oversteer.