Visa Cash App rider Yuki Tsunoda put in a reasonable race in Melbourne. The 23-year-old Japanese finished seventh while teammate Daniel Ricciardo had to settle for twelfth. However, Red Bull Racing advisor Helmut Marko says he is not yet convinced that Tsunoda will make the switch to Red Bull in the short term.
As a driver for the subsidiary team of the Austrian racing stable, Tsunoda’s goal is to one day drive for Red Bull. However, the two VCARB drivers have recently received quite a bit of criticism from Red Bull team advisor Marko. Even before the Australian Grand Prix started, the Austrian said he thought Tsunoda and Ricciardo were ‘too slow’, reports Motorsportweek.com.
Red Bull not yet in sight
After the race, Marko was pleased with Tsunoda’s results. “Every lap he was competitive and he did nothing wrong, he was calm,” Marko said. But as is often said in Formula 1: you are only as good as your last race. According to Marko, the outcome of the race in Melbourne does not change much about the chance that Tsunoda will take over Sergio Pérez’s seat in 2025. “He needs to improve even more before he can be considered,” says Marko.
The race in Melbourne was the first in which the VCARB team managed to gain points this season. “Yuki rode a fast and well-executed race to the top of the midfield and gave us the first points of the season,” said team boss Laurent Mekies. ‘He didn’t miss a step and with composure and dedication he got faster every session.’
Tsunoda enthusiastic about VCARB 01
The Japanese himself attributes his success to the reliability of the car, the VCARB 01. ‘Every week I reset myself and we present a little differently on each circuit. But what’s actually good is that the car is performing quite consistently and that wasn’t the case last year. Last year we fluctuated sometimes,” he says.
Although the start of the season was not dramatic, it did not go as the team had hoped. ‘The last two races have been frustrating. There were a few situations where we had a chance to win points, but we lost them. We knew we needed a clean race and I think we achieved that. We made no mistakes. That is very important for me and for the team to have confidence in the upcoming races,” Tsunoda said.
