Yuki Tsunoda told to get “on the phone to Aston Martin” as Red Bull F1 door shuts

1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill has urged Yuki Tsunoda to get “on the phone” to Aston Martin if he continues to be overlooked by Red Bull.

Despite out-performing Daniel Ricciardo across every metric so far in 2024, Red Bull aren’t considering Tsunoda as an option for the senior team.

Ricciardo and Liam Lawson were thought to be the front runners to replace Perez - if Red Bull wanted to make a change.

However, last week, Red Bull confirmed that Perez will remain in the seat - for now at least - as he looks to re-find his form at tracks he’s traditionally performed well on such as Baku and Singapore.

Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, Hill said Tsunoda should look at Aston Martin given that the door at Red Bull seems to be shut.

“If I was him I’d be on the phone to Aston Martin because he’s Japanese and they’ve got Honda coming,” Hill said.

Hill also suggested that Max Verstappen would likely prefer having Ricciardo as a teammate given the pair’s close relationship.

After the Belgian Grand Prix, they were pictured in a helicopter together leaving the circuit.

Some fans thought it was a ‘soft launch’ of them being teammates again - but that was later disproved by Red Bull.

“He’s right in saying that I can’t understand it and it doesn’t make any sense,” he added.

“When you see pictures of Max leaving the circuit in a helicopter with Daniel Ricciardo, and there’s all smiles. You get the feeling of Danny Ric and Max. Max would be quite happy with Danny Ric as a teammate.

“If his power is such in that team he can almost influence that decision then I do think the pressure is on to get Danny in there.

“They’ve given him a second lease of life by encouraging him. His performances have been getting stronger. There’s no question about it.”