Red Bull Racing are facing some difficult decisions before the end of the 2024 Formula 1 season. Max Verstappen was the leading driver out of the Red Bull quartet at the Mexico City Grand Prix but didn’t have the race that he or the team needed for both of their championship chances. Verstappen was criticised for his role in a battle with Lando Norris and the two penalties he received meant he was only able to secure a sixth-place finish.
However, he achieved the only points Red Bull scored at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, with Sergio Perez having a home race to forget. Perez was eliminated in Q1 on Saturday, before a clash with Liam Lawson caused significant damage to his car, leading him to a 17th-place finish after a late pit stop where he tried – and failed – to secure the fastest lap. Lawson’s day wasn’t much better after clashing with Franco Colapinto late in the race, forcing him to pit again and he only finished ahead of Perez at the chequered flag.
However, Yuki Tsunoda could only dream of completing the race in Mexico after a big crash heading down to turn one on the opening lap ended his hopes of converting an 11th-place start into some much-needed points. Photo by Kym Illman/Getty ImagesJournalist Edd Straw has spoken about Tsunoda’s future on The Race Podcast and how his performance in Mexico may have scuppered his chances of a promotion to the Red Bull team. Helmut Marko suggested Tsunoda was a candidate for a Red Bull promotion, but the £800,000-a-year driver now appears to be out of the reckoning.
Yuki Tsunoda now has ‘no chance’ of 2025 Red Bull promotionTalking about Tsunoda’s difficult weekend in Mexico after looking so promising in practice, Straw said: “Yeah, he’s so frustrating Tsunoda because he can be so good. “But yeah, he didn’t play the percentages there and qualifying was bad. “I mean, I think he pretty much knows there’s no chance of promotion to Red Bull Racing.
“Maybe he’s overreaching trying to change that. But yeah, he’s not going anywhere with that. ”Straw’s colleague Scott Mitchell-Malm added: “I spoke to a couple of senior people at Red Bull about this around qualifying and the race and their judgment on the qualifying error, for example, was basically that that’s why he won’t be a Red Bull Racing driver in the future.
READ MORE: Visa Cash App RB driver Yuki Tsunoda’s life outside F1 from height to parents“The pace is there, there’s no question, but they just feel he’s got a mistake in him. “I think Helmut Marko also said that the way that Tsunoda’s kind of reacting to the pressure that Liam Lawson is immediately putting him under in that team is reviving the doubts that they had over his mental strength, his attitude, however, you want to describe it. “So yeah, this was not a good weekend for Tsunoda in the end, despite, as you said at the start, how quick he was.
”Guenther Steiner shares what he would do with Yuki TsunodaTsunoda is in an awkward position as he comes to the end of his fourth season with RB. It appears as though a promotion to Red Bull is forever out of the question despite Honda pushing for him to at least test the car in the near future. READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Visa Cash App RB F1 Team from team principal to Red Bull relationshipThat looks set to happen at the post-season running in Abu Dhabi, but after more than 80 Grand Prix, Red Bull should have all the data they could ever need on Tsunoda to decide whether he’s got what it takes to race for the parent team.
Guenther Steiner would replace Perez with Tsunoda if he was in charge of Red Bull, but few people in Milton Keynes appear to agree with him. However, Tsunoda still got a rousing reception from fans in Mexico, even if he didn’t manage to make the first corner of the race.
