Claim made over Honda’s $10 million deal for Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull seat

Sky Sports F1 pundit Ted Kravitz has claimed Honda offered Red Bull $10 million for Yuki Tsunoda to be Sergio Perez’s replacement.

Tsunoda will make his long-awaited debut for Red Bull at this weekend’s F1 Japanese Grand Prix.

He’s been drafted in as Liam Lawson’s replacement, with the Kiwi moving back to Racing Bulls after just two races.

Tsunoda spent over four years in Red Bull’s junior team before finally getting a chance to race alongside Max Verstappen.

The 24-year-old has been overlooked multiple times despite out-performing Nyck de Vries, Daniel Ricciardo and Lawson.

It’s now been claimed that Red Bull decided against signing Tsunoda at the end of 2024 even though Honda were ready to pay Red Bull $10 million.

This claim comes after a New Zealand-based outlet suggested Honda paid Red Bull an eight-figure sum to ensure Tsunoda is part of one of their two F1 teams.

Speaking on the latest episode of Sky’s F1 podcast, Kravitz said: “So the story was when they were considering Perez’s replacement that there was 10 million US dollars on the table from Honda to put a Honda-supported driver with extra ‘activation’ in there to get a Japanese driver because it was worth it for Honda from a marketing point of view to get a Japanese driver - money well spent.

“They decided to go with Lawson so that money obviously wasn’t forthcoming. There’s a suggestion we will firm it up when we get up to Japan.

“Now they’ve said you know what we’re thinking of putting Yuki in, might that 10 million be available? And to their credit I think Honda have said ‘now you want it!’”

How will Tsunoda fare at Red Bull?

Tsunoda has the daunting task of going up against F1’s four-time world champion.

All of his predecessors, starting with Pierre Gasly in 2019, have struggled to regularly get close to Verstappen.

The main concern for Tsunoda will be Red Bull’s lack of performance.

Red Bull have struggled for general pace since the middle of last year, with Verstappen winning just two of the last 16 races.

His most recent victory in Brazil was due to the treacherous conditions rather than raw pace.

While Verstappen sits second in the F1 drivers’ championship after two rounds, McLaren have been a step ahead in 2025.

Tsunoda has had no testing time ahead of his home race at Suzuka, making his first race with the team a huge challenge.