AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost has tipped 22-year-old Yuki Tsunoda to replace Red Bull’s Sergio Perez in 2025, following the conclusion of the 33-year-old’s contract.
Perez is currently contracted until the end of 2024 and whilst he has started this season strongly, Red Bull could look to a younger driver for 2025 and beyond.
That driver in Tost’s eyes could be Tsunoda, who’s started his third season in F1 with two P11s and a P10 last weekend at the Australian Grand Prix,
Tsunoda has started 2023 superbly, with the Japanese driver having presented his best consistency and race pace to-date.
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Since joining F1 in 2021, Tsunoda has always been known as a quick driver, but one who makes mistakes too often and can get very hot-headed.
So far this year, Tsunoda has been calm, consistent and most important a leader, despite the fact that AlphaTauri’s car is once again disappointing.
Tsunoda is without a doubt excelling in what is possibly the worst car on the grid, with Tost hoping as a result that he will stay at the Faenza-based team next season.
Tost believes Tsunoda needs one more season to “finally be ready” to make that big step to Red Bull, but that 2-25 could be the year it happens.
“Yuki drove two extremely strong races so far. I am very happy with him. It’s not his fault that we aren’t competitive yet,” said Tost, ahead of the Australian GP.
“As far as I know, Sergio Perez still has a contract for next year. All I can say is that Yuki is on the right track. He has improved in every respect. But I think he should drive at AlphaTauri again in 2024. In 2025, I think he will finally be ready for Red Bull.”
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Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko is open to the idea of replacing Perez when his contract expires and has suggested that Tsunoda or team-mate Nyck de Vries could be promote; however, to do so any candidate for the second Red Bull seat would need to present “extraordinary performance”.
“To be a candidate for Red Bull Racing, you have to have an extraordinary performance,” Marko told Formula1.de
“They have to prove themselves if they want to stay in Formula One. The better one will probably have a chance. That applies to Yuki and also to De Vries.”