Tsunoda’s cryptic ‘I know something’ comment ahead of crunch Red Bull decision

Michelle Foster 28 Nov 2025 12:00 PM

Yuki Tsunoda is fighting for his Red Bull future

Yuki Tsunoda says he knows “something” about his F1 future that he “can’t share”, but then seemed to backtrack as he knows as much as the rest of the paddock given the Red Bull decision “is not made yet”.

The only organisation with two teams on the grid, Red Bull will, as things stand, announce its 2026 driver line-up for Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls after this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix.

What exactly does Yuki Tsunoda “know”?

“We will announce our line-up immediately after Qatar,” Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies told Nextgen Auto earlier this week. “Just one more week of patience.”

It’s understood that two of the current drivers, Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar, are guaranteed a seat for next season, while Tsunoda and Liam Lawson are fighting for their places on the grid.

Verstappen has already confirmed he will continue as a Red Bull driver next season, with the four-time World Champion expected to have a new teammate in Hadjar, this year’s rookie sensation.

Tsunoda and Lawson, meanwhile, are in a head-to-head fight for a Racing Bulls seat as Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad is expected to graduate to F1 to take one seat at Racing Bulls.

Red Bull has not hinted as to which way its decision will go, at least not publicly.

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But it seems Tsunoda may know something as he hinted at in Qatar before backtracking to say he knows nothing.

“Nope, not really,” he said in Qatar when asked if he’d had conversations about his future.

“I know something that I can’t share obviously with you guys, but probably most of the people know it.

“Actually, I have a similar understanding with you guys.

“I don’t know what is going to happen, let’s see.”

Tsunoda had been linked to Aston Martin, who will be powered by Honda next year, as a reserve driver but that door was shut when the team announced that Jak Crawford would fill the role in F1 2026.

Asked if he had a “Plan B”, Tsunoda replied: “No, not really.

“I mean I’m only thinking about this race. The decision is not made yet, it’s still in my hands. I’ll just try to support Max as much as possible and if I’m able to achieve that, that will naturally be positive for my future.

“I’ll aim for that, and let’s see what the future is.”

Tsunoda acknowledges that being close to Verstappen in Qatar would mean a top-five result, which is something he has yet to achieve with Red Bull.

The Japanese driver, who joined the team ahead of round three of the championship, has six top-tens in grands prix with the Milton Keynes squad with a best result of P6 at the Azerbaijan GHrand Prix.

“Try to be up there, [as] close to Max as possible. I guess naturally that will be top-five,” said Tsunoda.

“Being close to him means naturally closer to McLaren, hopefully be able to start ahead of them in the race and hopefully I can do something in the strategy.

“That’s the main thing I’m trying to achieve and I think that will also naturally be a good thing for me, positive. That’s what I’m targeting for.”