Schumacher forecasts the conclusion of Tsunoda's F1 career.
"He’s quite far behind Verstappen."
Yuki Tsunoda's aspiration for a promotion to the Red Bull team seems to be leading him towards an exit from Formula 1. This perspective comes from former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher, who has noted the increasing criticism from the Red Bull management regarding the Japanese driver's performance. After having demoted Liam Lawson earlier in 2025, the team is currently not inclined to make another change, likely to allow Isack Hadjar more time to progress with the Racing Bulls. "A driver change doesn’t make sense anymore," stated Red Bull consultant Dr. Helmut Marko after the Austrian GP.
Tsunoda, who has been with the junior team since 2021, faces challenges as Red Bull will lose crucial support from Honda at the year's end. This situation does not look promising for Tsunoda, as Schumacher expressed to Sky Deutschland. "He’s quite far behind (Max) Verstappen," remarked the six-time grand prix winner. "To put it simply, if he doesn’t improve in the next few races, he’ll likely be out of Red Bull even before the season ends. However, I hope they don’t promote Isack Hadjar beside Verstappen too soon and risk burning him out. That would be a significant mistake. The young man has a lot of potential. In my view, Tsunoda’s career is over. He’s simply too far off the pace and is making mistakes now," added Schumacher.
The German, who has just turned 50, suspected that Tsunoda would not perform better than Lawson, whose two race weekends with Red Bull earlier this year were dismal. "I didn’t see much difference in performance between Lawson and Hadjar at Racing Bulls," Schumacher noted. "And at Red Bull, he’s facing considerable pressure." There is speculation that Honda might leverage its sponsorship of Tsunoda to place him in the Aston Martin seat currently held by team owner Lawrence Stroll’s frequently criticized son, Lance. "I don’t believe that," Schumacher asserts. "I’d wager we won’t see Tsunoda in Formula 1 by the year's end. The issue with being both slow and causing damage is that teams quickly lose tolerance for that."
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