Yuki Tsunoda has revealed his “main priority” is to retain his seat at Red Bull, amid speculation that Isack Hadjar will replace him from next year’s Formula 1 campaign.
The Japanese driver has endured a difficult start to his Red Bull career, after making his debut for the Milton Keynes-based squad at the Japanese Grand Prix in April.
After being drafted alongside Max Verstappen, Tsunoda has only been able to muster nine points so far this season, having struggled to grapple with the team’s RB21 challenger.
Tsunoda has been candid about his struggles with the car, a predicament similar to what Verstappen has been facing but yet extracting the maximum from the package at his disposal.
As the prolonged period of difficulty for the Honda-backed driver continues, the rumour mill has begun churning news linking Hadjar with the seat alongside Verstappen from next year onwards.
Tsunoda, however, is not concerned about the French-Algerian driver’s chances at an F1 promotion and showed he is adamant that his aim is to stay with Red Bull.
“I think it’s the same as what I said previously, I heard today there are a lot of apparent speculation, but I was not really watching the media to pay attention. I don’t know,” he said ahead of this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
“I just keep what I’m doing, keep doing the things that I’m doing so far and keep focusing on performance, and just show the progress of the races. My main priority is to stay here.”
Tsunoda reveals the area he is focused on to improve at Red Bull
Up until the final two races going into the summer break, Tsunoda had not been strictly on the same package as Verstappen.
From the Belgian GP onwards, Red Bull handed him the upgraded floor that brought parity between the team-mates. Since then, Tsunoda has admitted to getting more comfortable with the RB21 with each passing session.
In fact, his one-lap pace has been around three-tenths of Verstappen. That said, he has been struggling in races to keep up with his rivals and come into the points.
Going into the final eight races of the season, the Japanese driver revealed he is focusing on improving his long-run pace to be able to secure his future with the team.
“Long runs, especially for now, the way I have to focus most of the times really, especially once I had a bit damage as well [in Monza],” he added.
“We also as a team worked hard to understand what’s the kind of main issue causing the long run pace and actually if we work pre-practices, the things that we experience is things that even the team can’t really explain it.”
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