Christian Horner makes his feelings known about Yuki Tsunoda's potential shot at Red Bull as Sergio Perez's replacement
Red Bull boss Christian Horner has made his feelings known about Yuki Tsunoda's potential shot as Sergio Perez's replacement and said that the team would weigh everything at the end of the season. The second seat at the team has been a topic of discussion for a while now.
Sergio Perez has been unable to perform at a high enough level to alleviate any kind of pressure that falls on him. The performances have been underwhelming, and what has been interesting to see in all of this is that the number of contenders who could possibly replace the Mexican has continued to grow. At the start of the season, Daniel Ricciardo was being evaluated.
When he was replaced by Liam Lawson, the Kiwi became the frontrunner to replace Perez at Red Bull. Amongst all of this, the second driver at RB, Yuki Tsunoda, has impressed everyone and been at the same pace or even better compared to his counterparts. Coming off the race in Las Vegas, the Japanese driver outperformed Lawson, and when questioned by the media on his prospects, the driver stated he didn't know where he stood in the contention to replace Perez.
The question was hence put to Christian Horner by media, including Sportskeeda, as the Red Bull boss addressed the candidacy of Yuki Tsunoda and whether he's in contention for Perez's seat. According to Horner, the team is going to wait until the end of the season, evaluate what the situation is, and then take the call. He said:
"Speed-wise, we can see he’s fast. He’s experienced now, he’s making less mistakes. Everything is taken into account in any driver decision. We’ll weigh it all up after the season. The priority is to understand what the path is with Sergio. And of course, what you have to remember is the pressure of being Max’s team-mate is probably the hardest job in Formula 1."
Yuki Tsunoda on where he stands as one of Sergio Perez's potential replacement options at Red Bull
The Japanese driver was questioned on Thursday where his candidature stood as one of the potential replacement options for Sergio Perez. An exasperated Yuki Tsunoda said that he had no idea of where he stood. The driver acknowledged that there was a lack of clarity on what comes next as he didn't know what more he could do in the car than what he'd already achieved. He said:
“I don’t know. Please could you interview them and find out? To be honest, I don’t know. Even whatever they say in the interview, even they say, ‘Yuki is in the mix.’ I don’t know if that’s the truth or not to be honest. So, yeah, I hope I’m in that mix, and if not, I don’t know what I should do more than this, to be honest."
He added:
“I’ll just keep pushing and things I can control. And those things, the Red Bull seat, they decide everything. I’m sure if I’m in the seat, I can fight for a higher constructors’ championship [position] and what they want. But, other things, politics things. They decide what they want."
There's still a lack of clarity on whether Red Bull might replace Sergio Perez with either Liam Lawson, Franco Colapinto, or Yuki Tsunoda. The team has not yet shared the path it wants to take with its driver lineup but it would be interesting to see if that path includes continuing with the Mexican for another year.