05 October 2023 , 20:37
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Yuki Tsunoda fears his links to a possible Aston Martin switch in the future might jeopardise his place at Red Bull.
Tsunoda, 23, is in his third season in Formula 1 as an AlphaTauri. And he is now guaranteed a fourth following the announcement last month that he was being handed a contract extension.
His place in the Red Bull programme is very much due to the support from their engine partners Honda. But that alliance will come to an end in a couple of years, with the Japanese carmaker off to work with Aston Martin.
That has prompted plenty of speculation that Aston might want to bring Tsunoda into the fold. And the driver is very much aware of the talk around that potential outcome.
That was evidenced by the fact that Tsunoda brought it up, unprompted, when asked if the progress he has made this year might have led to him getting more attention from Red Bull. "I hope so. To be honest, I really don't know about it," he initially replied.
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But he then went on to add: "The main thing is, I don't want Red Bull to misunderstand something – for example, that I'm just focusing now on Aston Martin or anything. I'm in AlphaTauri and I've been with Red Bull since I was 18 years old. I'm focusing on performing for Red Bull. Not for Aston Martin or something like that.
"Hopefully [Red Bull] haven't misunderstood those things and hopefully they really consider my future seriously. If I perform better than other drivers then hopefully they consider [me] more.
"Honda and Aston Martin are in partnership [for 2026], and I saw some on social media that Red Bull thinks I'm going already to Aston Martin and that's why they don't want to put me in the Red Bull, or whatever. I don't know if that's true or not, because it's just social media.
"But if that is the truth, that [a guaranteed move to Aston Martin] is not the case. But anyway I just have to show my performance, to convince them, to make sure that I can have the real material to be in the Red Bull."
Koji Watanabe, president of Honda's racing division, admitted earlier this year that he would like to see Tsunoda considered for an Aston Martin seat when their partnership officially begins. He said: "We're hoping that he will become a candidate, but it's up to the team to make the final decision."