RB CEO Peter Bayer revealed to Motorsport Week that Yuki Tsunoda is ready to step up as team leader, with the torch passed on from the recently departed Daniel Ricciardo.
Tsunoda joined RB in its AlphaTauri era back in 2021 as a promising 20-year-old Formula 1 rookie.
RB announced on Thursday that Ricciardo would leave the team with immediate effect, returning Liam Lawson to the driver lineup.
Speaking exclusively to Motorsport Week during the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Bayer revealed his ideal driver line-up is one experienced driver and one young star.
The Austrian noted how Ricciardo’s arrival to the team in 2023 helped mould Tsunoda into the role of the experienced performer.
“I strongly believe that you need to have one experienced driver and experienced meaning somebody like Yuki, who has now done a couple of years,” said Bayer.
“Daniel helped us to fine-tune Yuki and sort of polish the edges and certainly Yuki is somebody who is able to do that in the future.
“I see the pairing of taking somebody under your wings, goes quite well with the Red Bull philosophy actually.”
Mekies ready to build RB future around Tsunoda
RB Team Principal Laurent Mekies also spoke exclusively with Motorsport Week at Zandvoort and implied that he is prepared to make Tsunoda the future of the side.
“[Tsunoda] wants a step, we want a step,” Mekies explained.
“He wants a step as a driver, we want a step as a team. Fortunately, it’s what we both have planned.
“So he’s ambitious, we’re ambitious. He wants more, we want more.
“So I think at the moment that combination is very, very good and as long as we have super talented drivers coming in and being able to challenge the more established ones, I think it’s a very, very good combination.”
The combination of one experienced driver and one youngster has now changed since Motorsport Week’s discussion with Mekies and Bayer.
With Ricciardo making way, Tsunoda has assumed his role of mentor and Lawson steps up to fill the latter role of the developing driver.
“It’s great to see young talent from within the Red Bull family make the next step,” Mekies said in RB’s Thursday press announcement.
“We’re looking forward to getting our heads down and focusing on the rest of the season together [with Lawson].”
Lawson will step into the RB race seat for the remaining six rounds of the season, starting with the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas on October 17-20.
READ MORE: Liam Lawson to replace Daniel Ricciardo at RB for remainder of F1 2024
