Yuki Tsunoda could yet race for Red Bull as new role mooted

Yuki Tsunoda is reportedly set to be named as Red Bull’s reserve driver for the 2025 F1 season.

The 24-year-old Japanese driver will spend a fifth year racing for Red Bull’s sister squad Racing Bulls after being overlooked by the senior team for 2025.

Red Bull instead opted to promote Liam Lawson to become Max Verstappen’s next F1 teammate, having decided to ditch the underperforming Sergio Perez after an abysmal 2024 season.

According to both Autosport and RacingNews365, Tsunoda is set to take on the role of Red Bull’s reserve driver this year.

Not only would Tsunoda be a fall-back option if Lawson does not perform as expected, but he would be first in line to fill in for the Kiwi or Verstappen in the event that one of Red Bull’s regular drivers could not compete.

A threat of a race ban continues to loom over Verstappen, who heads into 2025 with eight penalty points on his super licence.

The four-time world champion has insisted he will not change how he races despite being four points away from triggering an automatic one-race ban.

Verstappen needs to carefully navigate the first 11 rounds of the 2025 season before two penalty points will expire on 30 June.

In theory, the new role for Tsunoda, who made his Red Bull test debut in the Abu Dhabi post-season test in December, could find himself racing for the team despite being snubbed.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has admitted that Tsunoda could exit the team when his contract expires at the end of 2025.

"We're acutely aware that if we're not able to provide an opportunity for Yuki [at Red Bull] in all honesty this year, does it [keeping him on] make sense?," Horner said at the end of last year.

"You can't have a driver in the support team for five years. You can't always be the bridesmaid. You've either got to let them go at that point or look at something different."