Red Bull is reported to have chosen Yuki Tsunoda to be the team’s reserve driver for the upcoming 2025 Formula 1 season.
Tsunoda was in the running to land a permanent seat with Red Bull amid the group’s decision to drop Sergio Perez, who sustained a disastrous campaign in 2024.
But while he sampled the RB20 in the post-season test in Abu Dhabi, Tsunoda was overlooked once again as Racing Bulls team-mate Liam Lawson was promoted.
Lawson will partner reigning F1 champion Max Verstappen at Red Bull, despite having less than a dozen starts to his name across two spells with the satellite squad.
Red Bull has insisted that Tsunoda, who will begin his fifth campaign with the Faenza-based squad, will be considered should Lawson’s spell not work out as desired.
Tsunoda being nominated as Red Bull’s reserve means he could be called upon to drive the RB21 at a race weekend should Lawson or Verstappen become unavailable.
This could materialise due to a race ban, with Verstappen concluding the previous season on eight penalty points to leave him four shy of having to miss an entire round.
The Dutchman has insisted that he will not change his racing approach despite being in a precarious position as he will not have points removed until the 12th round in Austria.
In the circumstance where Tsunoda is called upon to deputise at Red Bull – or should he or team-mate Isack Hadjar be ruled out, Ayumu Iwasa will step up with Racing Bulls.
Iwasa, who drove the VCARB-01 in FP1 in Japan and the post-season test last term, has the requisite 40 points to attain the FIA superlicense that is required to drive in F1.
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