Yuki Tsunoda makes Red Bull contract admission as time ticks on Perez decision

Yuki Tsunoda says his Red Bull contract is “almost nothing”, to the point he didn’t even read it properly as the team can “play around” with the drivers as they want.

Although Tsunoda races for Red Bull’s junior team, VCARB, his contract is with Red Bull as is Max Verstappen’s, Sergio Perez’s and Daniel Ricciardo’s.

Yuki Tsunoda: Even the contract is almost nothing

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

There is reportedly a clause in all their contracts that allows Red Bull to place the driver with either Red Bull Racing or VCARB.

That has opened the door for the team to drop Sergio Perez to the junior team during the summer break and promote either Tsunoda or Ricciardo in his stead. But they could also drop Perez altogether and promote neither of the VCARB drivers and instead give reserve driver Liam Lawson the seat.

And all of this speculation about his F1 future comes just two months after Perez signed a new contract with Red Bull for the 2025 championship, one said to include an option for 2026.

It’s no wonder Tsunoda, who also put pen to paper on a new Red Bull deal ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, didn’t bother reading the fine print.

“Apparently, even what Helmut [Marko] says, Red Bull can play around with anything he wants,” the Japanese driver told the media including PlanetF1.com ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix.

“Even the contract is almost nothing. To be honest, I didn’t read it properly. So whatever it says, I guess for now this team [VCARB] is where I’ll be.”

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But while Tsunoda is still holding out hope that he could be the one to replace Perez, sources have indicated to PlanetF1.com that the race is between Ricciardo and Lawson for the seat.

Tsunoda is baffled given he has out-qualified and out-scored Ricciardo to sit P12 in the Drivers’ Championship and feels it should be “quite clear” who Red Bull choose to replace the Mexican driver.

“Obviously as a driver there are a couple of races where I could have done better,” he admitted.

“For example Montreal. I was in the points and I lost the points that were in my hands. But other times, just please compare the Q3 appearances, the qualifying results and the race results. It will be clear.

“So in my opinion, yes, it’s quite clear. But other than that I don’t know.

“It seems like there are also other factors obviously, because they are considering other drivers as well.

“It’s based on rumours, but…

“If you just see the performance, it’s quite clear like I said. It’s really clear that I’m the one performing well, even in the top of the midfield, if you compared to all the drivers.”

But while for Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull’s summer break decision could determine their entire F1 future, for Tsunoda it could impact his holiday plans.

“Depends on the news, I guess,” he said when asked if he’d be heading back to Japan for his holiday. “I will go back to Japan as I didn’t go back to Japan in the like six years in summertime.

“So I’m looking forward to staying with my friends, have nice barbecue, whatever. That’d be cool. It’s very hot, apparently so I have to prepare for that. But yeah, I’ll have a nice relaxing time.”

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