"If they choose Liam [Lawson], that would be weird," says RB's Yuki Tsunoda amid growing speculation about Sergio Perez's future; watch every session from the Hungarian GP live on Sky Sports F1, with practice under way from 12.30pm on Friday and Sunday's race at 2pm
Thursday 18 July 2024 19:14, UK
Yuki Tsunoda believes he would deserve to take over the second Red Bull seat were the world champions to drop the struggling Sergio Perez - and suggests it would be "weird" if reserve driver Liam Lawson was promoted ahead of him.
F1 has arrived in Budapest for this weekend's Hungarian GP with pressure building on Perez to quickly find a big step forward in form after a run of results that Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has admitted is "unsustainable".
Amid a growing challenge to Red Bull from their rivals at the front of F1, Perez has scored only 15 points in the last six races in a period team-mate Max Verstappen has claimed 119.
It is thought that the final two races before F1's summer break, of which Hungary is the first ahead of next week's Belgian GP, are crucial to Perez's prospects amid speculation about the presence of possible performance clauses contained in the new Red Bull contract the Mexican signed in early June.
Japan's Tsunoda, who drives for Red Bull's sister team RB, would represent one of several in-house alternatives for the world champions to choose from were they decide to make a change in the seat next to Verstappen.
Asked at the Hungaroring on Thursday if he felt ready for one of F1's most competitive seats, Tsunoda told reporters: "Yeah. If I'm not ready, I wouldn't have been able to announce next season at least for even VCARB [RB].
"Obviously, I'm feeling ready, compared to the last three years, to fight against top teams, higher positions, even with Max or whatever.
"But in the end, they are the ones who are going to decide and it's not a thing I can control. So I'm just focusing on what I have to do in the next two races."
Then asked directly if he thought he deserved the seat next to Verstappen, Tsunoda replied: "Yeah."
At RB, Tsunoda has outperformed his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo since the eight-time Grand Prix winner joined him at the team from last year's Hungarian GP and is currently the only one of the two with a contract for 2025.
Yet, despite that form and the fact the 24-year-old has shown steady improvement during his four seasons in F1, Tsunoda has not been thought to be under serious consideration for a promotion in the Red Bull stable at least up until now.
Indeed Red Bull reserve Lawson, who raced alongside Tsunoda for five races in the second half of last year while Ricciardo was sidelined by a hand injury, appears higher in the prospective pecking order and the New Zealander last week tested the current championship-leading RB20 in a filming day at Silverstone.
Put to him by reporters that choosing the more-inexperienced Lawson over him could be considered a 'weird' move, Tsunoda replied: "If they choose Liam, that would be weird.
"But I mean, for me at least… I don't think so.
"For sure, Liam did a really good job when he drove for the team, but I think I did more than that. We'll see how it goes. In the end, they know how to manage drivers."
Tsunoda said he had only had "general casual chat" in the paddock rather than any "serious talks and conversation yet" with either Horner or Helmut Marko, Red Bull's advisor.
"The thing is, they're not really rushing it," he added.
"Checo, they announce it two races before, a race before, and Checo might perform really, really well, and if a driver's performing well they don't have reason to change driver.
"In the end, what they are doing for sure is a good thing for Checo because they don't want to create any pressure and that's definitely fair. Also for myself, they want me to focus on what I'm doing right now. We don't have serious talks and conversation yet."
Asked about Tsunoda's comments later on Thursday, Perez said he had no problem with another driver from the Red Bull family targeting his seat.
"A lot of drivers would love to have my seat, it's obvious," Perez said. "It's one of the top seats and it's normal for Yuki to want to move up.
"I think it's just normal, when you are in a lower seat, you want to move up. That's just part of the nature of the sport. I've got nothing against it. I think it's good to have high ambitions in the sport."
The Mexican insisted that his recent signing - at the start of June - of a two-year contract extension with Red Bull shows that there is no imminent risk of him being dropped by the team.
While admitting it has been challenging to shut out the "external noise", Perez suggested he expects to be given until the end of the season to prove he deserves to retain his seat.
"I've been in this business for too long and I know that it will only matter where I finish in Abu Dhabi, so let's ride the rollercoaster and hopefully get back on form very soon," he added.
"It's difficult to shut down the external noise but at the end of the day I come here to give my very best, my maximum effort. When I'm here, when I'm at home training, when I'm in the simulator, I focus on the important stuff.
"At the end of the day, the noise, I think it's obviously a lot bigger when you are at Red Bull, but it's the beauty of this challenge. It's why I decided to extend my contract with the team, because I love the challenge. It's really hard, it takes absolutely everything out of you and this is why I want to continue here."
Friday July 19
8.50am: F3 Practice
10am: F2 Practice
12pm: Hungarian GP Practice One (session starts at 12.30pm)
2pm: F3 Qualifying
3pm: F2 Qualifying
3.45pm: Hungarian GP Practice Two (session starts at 4pm)
5:15pm: The F1 Show
Saturday July 20
8:45am: F3 Sprint
11.15am: Hungarian GP Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint
2.15pm: Hungarian GP Qualifying build-up
3pm: Hungarian GP Qualifying
5pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook
Sunday July 21
7:20am: F3 Feature Race
9am: F2 Feature Race
11am: Porsche Supercup
12:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday - Hungarian GP build-up
2pm: The HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag: Hungarian GP reaction
5pm: Ted's Notebook
Next up for F1 is the Hungarian Grand Prix from Budapest on July 19-21. You can watch every session live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership - No contract, cancel anytime
