Red Bull chief advisor Helmut Marko has said that the two things Yuki Tsunoda lacks when it comes to being Max Verstappen's teammate are "continuity" and "stability." The seat alongside the world champion in the Austrian team is seemingly up for grabs as Sergio Perez has struggled this season.
However, Red Bull seemingly lacks a viable alternative to the Mexcian. The team brought back Daniel Ricciardo to the fold to evaluate if he was good enough to replace Sergio Perez. When he was unable to perform, Liam Lawson was brought in to see how good he was compared to Yuki Tsunoda.
It has been more or less on an even keel since, between Lawson and Tsunoda. The Japanese driver, however, had a brilliant race in Las Vegas, where he outperformed the Kiwi comprehensively. That has led to calls from some corners that promoting Tsunoda to the senior team alongside Max Verstappen could be a good move.
Red Bull chief advisor Helmut Marko, however, opined that there are two key areas Tsunoda is lacking in. Asked whether the Japanese driver was the favorite for the seat at Red Bull, Marko said (via Kleine Zeitung),
"He has now delivered two very good races in Brazil and Las Vegas. Unfortunately, he made two stupid mistakes in Brazil before that. Yuki has the speed, but he lacks continuity and stability. But when it works for him, it works very well" (translated from German).
Asked about when the call on Max Verstappen's teammate would be made, Marko said,
"There will be a meeting on the Monday after Abu Dhabi and that's when the decisions will be made."
Yuki Tsunoda on if he could be Max Verstappen's teammate
Yuki Tsunoda was asked on Thursday by the media if he had any idea on whether he was in the running to be Max Verstappen's teammate at Red Bull. The Japanese driver responded that he had no idea what was going on.
Talking about how he couldn't do much more than what he's already done, the Japanese driver told media including Sportskeeda,
“I don’t know. Please could you interview them and find out? To be honest, I don’t know. Even whatever they say in the interview, even they say, ‘Yuki is in the mix.’ I don’t know if that’s the truth or not to be honest. So, yeah, I hope I’m in that mix, and if not, I don’t know what I should do more than this, to be honest.
“I’ll just keep pushing and things I can control. And those things, the Red Bull seat, they decide everything. I’m sure if I’m in the seat, I can fight for a higher constructors’ championship [position] and what they want. But, other things, politics things. They decide what they want."
With Franco Colapinto also in contention, it is not clear which direction Red Bull' will go in. It seems safe to say that whoever gets the seat would have a baptism by fire waiting for him as a seat alongside Max Verstappen is probably the toughest one on the entire grid.