Signing a new contract for the 2025 Formula 1 season coincided with a disappointing race for two drivers on the grid.
However, it was more of a surprise to see RB driver Yuki Tsunoda make a mistake than senior Red Bull star Sergio Perez find the wall during the Canadian Grand Prix.
V-CARB team principal Laurent Mekies has spoken to the official Formula 1 website about the young Japanese driver.
There were some question marks over Tsunoda heading into the 2024 season.
He was entering his fourth year in Formula 1 and typically drivers don’t survive that long in the Red Bull setup, particularly the recently-renamed sister team.
However, Tsunoda has taken several steps forward this year and Mekies admits he’s having sleepless nights trying to help his driver fulfil his potential.
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RB driver Laurent Mekies having sleeping nights over Yuki Tsunoda
Yuki Tsunoda faced arguably the toughest tests of his Formula 1 career at the start of 2024.
Red Bull chief Christian Horner had brought Daniel Ricciardo back into the team halfway through last year and had high hopes for the eight-time race winner that he could put Sergio Perez under pressure with his contract coming to an end.
Unfortunately, both drivers have failed to meet expectations while Tsunoda has thrived at RB.
He’s currently sitting in the top ten of the Drivers’ Championship ahead of all of his rivals in the bottom half of the paddock and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
Tsunoda has consistently outperformed Ricciardo in qualifying throughout the year and with overtaking still relatively difficult, that delivered the Japanese driver plenty of points.
It also put Tsunoda on the market with his contract expiring and there was serious interest from Audi.
However, RB moved to activate an option in Tsunoda’s contract to keep him with the team for a fifth year in 2025.
Mekies understands that RB now needs to match Tsunoda’s ambitions as he’s one of the fastest drivers on the grid without a podium finish.
The race between him and Nico Hulkenberg to break that duck is on and right now Tsunoda looks the more likely given his current form and RB’s slight pace advantage over Haas.
Yuki Tsunoda turning heads in 2024
Talking about Tsunoda after he signed his new deal, Mekies said: “I have been fortunate in my life to witness that in so many champions.
“They progress and they get faster, and faster again. What Yuki [Tsunoda] has done now in his fourth year – you expect these steps to come early in the career, but on his fourth year, to make such a huge leap is credit to him.
“It’s putting him on a very serious map of the top guys out there.
“If you were asking us what is stopping us from sleeping right now, it would be the responsibility we feel in trying to make sure Yuki has the right environment to do more steps.
“Because who are we to know that it’s the last one? We don’t think it’s the last one. We think there may be a lot more to come, and that would put him on a crazy trajectory.
So, our responsibility is to make sure we keep him in the right mindset, in the right spirit and with the right environment, so he can continue to develop.”
Tsunoda still isn’t on Red Bull’s radar to join Max Verstappen in the future but that will have to change eventually.
Either he will need to be handed the promotion he deserves, or they’ll have to let him go to pursue opportunities elsewhere.
Based purely on form alone, Perez and Tsunoda have arguably signed deals with the wrong teams for 2025.
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