Yeah, I agree with that.
Motorsport Off Topic Thread
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Really? There’s multiple industry articles describing the behind the scenes stuff going on, such as Honda doubling their payments to get him into a RB.
Why Honda is paying millions to have Tsunoda alongside Verstappen
Yuki Tsunoda will make a dream come true as he gets set to make his Red Bull Racing debut at the Japanese Grand Prix. He will replace Liam Lawson after just two rounds following a lacklustre start to...
www.gpblog.com
Yep.
Seems stupid though. Yuki would likely finish higher in the RB than with Red Bull - obviously more prestigious racing in a championship winning team, but they don't do podiums for 15th.Really? There’s multiple industry articles describing the behind the scenes stuff going on, such as Honda doubling their payments to get him into a RB.
Why Honda is paying millions to have Tsunoda alongside Verstappen
Yuki Tsunoda will make a dream come true as he gets set to make his Red Bull Racing debut at the Japanese Grand Prix. He will replace Liam Lawson after just two rounds following a lacklustre start to...
I'm hoping he does better but 1 hard sell to think he'll be up there in his first race (would be amazing if he is).
I think you're right. I doubt Yuki will do as well in the Red Bull but maybe Red Bull don't like seeing Racing Bulls in front of them?
The same offer was on the table before they gave the seat to Lawson though. For a team like Red Bull the money is a sweetener not a reason; they have more than enough cash already and with a new engine supplier come on board from next year they no longer need to keep Honda sweet.
I'm torn. Would love to see Lawson score points, but also want Yuki to do well. Both cases stick it management.
Testing should be more than just 3 days.
New driver coming into F1 only gets at most 12 hours of running in the F1 car before the first event? Ok, they can be run in cars that are older than 2 years, but in 2026 we're getting new engines and are going to be completely different from the cars from 2 years ago. Also there's the simulator, but that doesn't simulate the physicality of the F1 car.
With the teams making profits now with the budget caps, why not let them test a bit more?
I'd personally be ok with 6 days over 2 weeks. Say Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday on each week, that way if there's issues they have 4 days to try to sort them between.
New driver coming into F1 only gets at most 12 hours of running in the F1 car before the first event? Ok, they can be run in cars that are older than 2 years, but in 2026 we're getting new engines and are going to be completely different from the cars from 2 years ago. Also there's the simulator, but that doesn't simulate the physicality of the F1 car.
With the teams making profits now with the budget caps, why not let them test a bit more?
I'd personally be ok with 6 days over 2 weeks. Say Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday on each week, that way if there's issues they have 4 days to try to sort them between.
It should be a dedicated role with its own run times, "Test and Reserve driver" doesn't qualify for the in-season testing benefits unless they're also a young driver, limited mileage outside of sessions on out of date hardware. Sprint weekends make this even worse with only one test session for the entire weekend unless you want to sacrifice potential points for setup changes. I'd want to see 6 sessions per team each year dedicated for the reserve driver to keep themselves up to date in current hardware and handling, to correlate data for their sim work. Seen it far too often where the official "Test and Reserve driver" is overlooked for another team's driver who has had more running.
Personally I hope Red Bull drop Lawson and he can rebuild his career somewhere else, even if it is not Formula 1.
This is the third time I've seen this happen to people I know and it's soul destroying. I don't trust Racing Bulls with Lawson's career and I don't believe they will support him properly.
I'm sure Tsuonda will do better initially, but the better long term option is Lawson but I fear the damage has already been done, even if he does well at RB.
Red Bull are probably already working towards getting Lindblad in the car at some point this season, Lawson's tenure at Red Bull is coming to an end.
This is the third time I've seen this happen to people I know and it's soul destroying. I don't trust Racing Bulls with Lawson's career and I don't believe they will support him properly.
I'm sure Tsuonda will do better initially, but the better long term option is Lawson but I fear the damage has already been done, even if he does well at RB.
Red Bull are probably already working towards getting Lindblad in the car at some point this season, Lawson's tenure at Red Bull is coming to an end.
The trouble is that it is not three days, it's a day and a half per driver. I believe Lawson completed around 149 laps, Hadjar for example did nearly 250 at the same test. How many of those laps were anything close to qualifying pace?
Japan is desperate to get a driver on the podium, Tsunoda is their best chance so I get why they'll do anything to make it happen.
It'll be very interesting to see how he performs at Red Bull, maybe he'll drive the RB21 quicker than Verstappen, I honestly have no clue but my gut says no!
Reportedly Marko has already said that Tsunoda's seat at Red Bull is safe for the remainder of the season, so that takes the pressure off him.
It'll be very interesting to see how he performs at Red Bull, maybe he'll drive the RB21 quicker than Verstappen, I honestly have no clue but my gut says no!
Reportedly Marko has already said that Tsunoda's seat at Red Bull is safe for the remainder of the season, so that takes the pressure off him.
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I would say there is about a 0.1% chance of him being quicker than Verstappen and that’s being generous. In truth I think he’ll get bodied like everyone else, albeit perhaps not as badly as Lawson or Perez at times last season.
I reckon RB would be secretly delighted if Yuki could just reach the level Albon was at when he was there a few seasons ago.
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Totally agree, however if Tsunonda is able to get the car into that performance window anything is possible.
I'm intrigued to hear Tsunoda's radio messages if things don't go as he expects, I believe some of them will be gold.
Tsunoda needs to score more points than Perez did last season, that should be his aim if he wants to please Red Bull.
I'm not suggesting it was the sole reason, but it played a part in the decision, Tsunoda's performances in Australia and China would have been the deciding factors.
It was a very poor decision to put Lawson in the team in the first place and now they have all but wrecked his career.
How can you honestly compare a driver who has completed four full seasons to one that has done 11 races over two years, the whole thing is completely nuts?
The car this year is a lot worse than last, Max isn't taking the WDC unless things change dramatically.
This is what happens when you develop a car for one driver with a particular driving style, and continue on a path where it becomes so extreme that said driver is even unable to handle the latest iteration himself.
I agree that the task of beating Perez's points tally is mammoth, however I suspect that is what Red Bull will hope to get from the Japanese driver.
It's going to be interesting to see how Tsunoda deals with Verstappen, I honestly think the Japanese driver believes he can beat him and that could be his undoing.