Purple Bull crew principal Christian Horner has insisted that the outfit’s “priorities” are Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson, decreasing Yuki Tsunoda’s probabilities of a promotion.
RacingNews365 recently learnt that Tsunoda will be Red Bull’s reserve driver this year, a job which had been Lawson’s previous to his promotion.
For the primary time, Lawson holds a full-time F1 seat for the upcoming marketing campaign with Purple Bull, following 11 appearances throughout two seasons for its sister crew.
He was chosen to exchange Sergio Perez on the Milton Keynes-based crew over Tsunoda, regardless of the Japanese driver having persistently completed forward of Lawson within the final six races of 2024.
Racing for Purple Bull is a big second in Lawson’s profession; nonetheless, historical past has proven that younger drivers typically wrestle alongside Verstappen.
It’s not unusual for younger drivers to shortly get replaced at Purple Bull, with Verstappen typically being too dominant.
With the expertise of Tsunoda now within the wings because the crew’s reserve driver, he could be out there for Purple Bull ought to it wish to substitute Lawson if the driving force encounters difficulties.
Tsunoda’s hopes will probably not be excessive although, with Horner not trying simply but at who may very well be used as a substitute.
“Yuki, clearly, is within the [Red Bull driver] pool,” Horner advised choose media together with RacingNews365.
“Our priorities are our race drivers. However Yuki is a really gifted driver, and we’ll be holding an in depth eye on him and Isack Hadjar as properly.”
Forward of Lawson’s first Purple Bull race, each Horner and advisor Helmut Marko have pressured that the 22-year-old should deal with himself fairly than Verstappen.
When requested what Lawson’s goal for the season is, Horner answered: “Simply rating as many factors as he potential can.”
