Yuki Tsunoda will not only think about performance when choosing his future destination in F1. The Racing Bulls driver believes that Pierre Gasly's departure from AlphaTauri was not only for performance-related reasons, and he is convinced that his future departure will also have various causes.
“Performance is obviously important” Tsunoda told Motorsport Week. “But also, I don't know what Pierre [Gasly] decided, what were the reasons. But I'm sure Pierre didn't just decide on the performance at that moment.”
“Alpine is the French team, and he is French too, so that plays a role. It's also that I want to concentrate on the atmosphere and everything else, I wouldn't necessarily be satisfied with the performance. There is also the team manager and how the team atmosphere matches my characteristics I would take these things into consideration.”
“It's obvious that performance is the most important factor, but not only that. And I wouldn't really take Pierre's situation into account, to be honest, and it also depends on the team's project and everything else .”
“But so far I am happy within the Red Bull family. This is where I grew up over the last two years. I hope my career will be successful in this team. But let's see how it goes will happen in the future.”
The Japanese confirms that he is waiting to know what his future is, but that nothing is lost for é026 and beyond: “To be honest, it's not really clear. I could also be at Racing Bulls in 2026. I haven't been told that it will be the last season, next year.
“I think they changed their approach a little [avec les pilotes]. To be honest, I don't really know what they want. But as a pilot, I cannot continue to rely solely on it. Especially since there was a lot of discussion. So it’s always good to have something, an option.”
“But so far, I'm not necessarily trying to find it, to be honest. Because the current situation, I'm not saying… it's not always a very bad situation right now. It depends , I think, about the car I will drive next year and how the season will go next year.”
