Red Bull’s Helmut Marko has given Yuki Tsunoda a strong deadline to improve his performance and secure a seat with the team in the future. The Japanese driver was signed earlier this season, but has failed to deliver consistent results.
The RB21 has so far lacked overall pace and hasn’t been very competitive against the team’s rivals on the track. But Max Verstappen managed to pull in two victories earlier this season, keeping the team stable in fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship. However, their second car has been struggling to score any points since the start of the season.
Liam Lawson, whom Red Bull initially signed, was replaced after just two races owing to uncompetitive performances. He was swapped with Yuki Tsunoda, who was a promising driver. However, he has only scored points in three races so far.
With the team being in a dire position to find a more competitive driver, Yuki Tsunoda might find himself in danger of losing his seat. But Red Bull Racing has given him a certain time period to improve his performance.
Helmut Marko revealed earlier that the 25-year-old will have to begin delivering strong results and work on his consistency in the coming races.
“He has to get closer to Max and deliver that level of performance consistently. That’s why we’ve postponed the option dates further back, and now we’ll look at the upcoming races and then a decision will be made,” he told ORF (via Motorsport.com).
When asked about a certain deadline, he revealed that Tsunoda has until Mexico to work on his performance.
“I would say around Mexico.”
With the challenge seemingly increasing for Tsunoda, he has a clear aim for the rest of the season.
Yuki Tsunoda aims to “score points” in the remaining season
Considering his inconsistent performances, Tsunoda hasn’t scored enough points; meanwhile, his teammate has been seemingly carrying the entire team’s load alone.
With 10 races remaining, Yuki Tsunoda mentioned that he aims to score more points and develop consistency.
“Score points, I think that’s the main thing. That’s it,” he told the media (via F1). “It’s been a while since I scored points but at the same time, in those moments I didn’t score points I also knew that I was [going] in the right direction and especially the last two races before the summer break after I got upgrades, I kind of proved to myself and proved to them that I’m still there.”
As mentioned, Red Bull sits in fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship, with 194 points in their bag. Notably, Max Verstappen has scored 187 of those. The team isn’t under threat from Williams, who have only scored 70 points, but Mercedes seems to be slipping away from RBR’s reach as they continue to extend their gap and challenge Ferrari for second place in the championship.
alt=”Gunaditya Tripathi” height=”72″ width=”72″>
Edited by Gunaditya Tripathi
