The 2023 Formula 1 season may have been one of the most predictable campaigns in recent years, with Max Verstappen pulling off a straightforward world championship victory against his fellow yielded rivals. However, there was always a sense of unpredictability in the AlphaTauri camp, producing much-needed drama for the spectators, thanks to the quadruple battle feat. Yuki Tsunoda for the two seats.
While almost the entire grid was busy developing their 2023 and potentially 2024 challengers, AlphaTauri spent most of their season with a game of musical chairs. It all began with the awkward arrival of Nyck de Vries; the FE title-winning Dutchman earned the support of Christian Horner and managed to sneak his way into Formula 1.
But, what was set to be a promising journey took a wild turn for the worst and became an absolute nightmare. Then followed the bitter move from Red Bull’s think-tank – Horner and Marko took the joint decision to replace de Vries with Daniel Ricciardo. Soon after, the Australian met with an untimely crash at Zandvoort, leading to Liam Lawson’s F1 unforeseen debut.
But, unlike de Vries, Lawson showed immense promise, and it almost seemed like the rookie could well take over Tsunoda’s seat, heading into 2024. But, why didn’t he? Despite proving himself as a valuable rookie and a fan favorite, Red Bull decided against letting go of Tsunoda. Well, the truth behind Tsunoda’s retention wasn’t entirely about his talent.
Bizarre Yuki Tsunoda-Liam Lawson revelation leaves Red Bull in bad light
According to former Aston Martin strategist, Bernie Collins, Tsunoda’s retention had pretty much nothing to do with his talent, rather had almost everything to do with his sponsors. Unsurprisingly enough, Tsunoda has lured quite a lot of Japanese sponsors into the team. Hence, letting go of the 23-year-old could lead to a hefty financial blow for the sister Red Bull outfit.
“It’s a pity in F1 that some things are led by sponsors, some things are led by dealings, whatever, but on pure performance, he should be in a car, he should be in a seat,” she told Speedcafe. “And arguably, that should have been the AlphaTauri seat with Daniel Ricciardo because you would have a very strong line-up of a young guy that’s clearly very good, and Ricciardo who has very strong pace and a lot of experience.
“That would work really well, you’d imagine, for the AlphaTauri team, that mix. That’s not happened, which is a pity.” Overall, it was inarguably a tough call to make for Red Bull, and Lawson had to take the beatings in the end. But, it’s certainly not all over for the young Kiwi. If not 2024, Lawson is highly likely to win his place in Formula 1 by as early as 2025.