{"id":13614,"date":"2025-07-22T14:40:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T14:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/13614\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T14:40:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T14:40:08","slug":"honda-wouldnt-block-yuki-tsunoda-moving-to-haas-despite-toyota-f1-alliance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/13614\/","title":{"rendered":"Honda wouldn’t block Yuki Tsunoda moving to Haas despite Toyota F1 alliance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Honda has indicated it would not block a potential Yuki Tsunoda<\/a> move to Haas, despite the team\u2019s partnership in Formula 1<\/a> with rival Japanese manufacturer Toyota.<\/p>\n

Tsunoda\u2019s woes since stepping up to Red Bull three races into 2025 have cast doubt on whether he can be the solution to the team\u2019s perpetual second driver problem.<\/p>\n

The Japanese driver has accrued a mere seven points in his 10 weekends with the team to date as he has been unable to get to grips with Red Bull\u2019s capricious RB21.<\/p>\n

But while Red Bull has reiterated that Tsunoda will complete the season alongside Max Verstappen<\/a>, that hasn\u2019t ceased rumours that an earlier change could be made.<\/p>\n

However, Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) President Koji Watanabe divulged that he has been assured that Tsunoda\u2019s Red Bull spot is not in danger in the short term.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, there\u2019s no discussion going on saying yes [that he\u2019ll be replaced during the summer break],\u201d Watanabe told Auto Sport Web at Silverstone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the first place, in a discussion with Red Bull in March, we had agreed to transfer Yuki to Red Bull. So we don\u2019t expect him to be replaced in the summer break.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am aware that there are various rumours going around, but I confirmed with the team at Silverstone, where the British Grand Prix was held this time, but basically Yuki will be racing for Red Bull until the end of this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to state clearly that this is the case,\u201d he added. \u201cI think this is also a sign of Red Bull\u2019s high expectations for Yuki.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"YukiYuki Tsunoda has struggled with Red Bull<\/p>\n

Red Bull struggles worse than Honda expected<\/p>\n

Red Bull\u2019s final campaign with Honda is poised to end without more title success as the team has been unable to provide a consistent rival to McLaren\u2019s leading pace.<\/p>\n

Regardless, Watanabe has vowed that the Japanese marque will continue to give Red Bull maximum support as it endeavours to end the collaboration on a high note.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, as long as I\u2019m just looking at the results from the outside, I feel like we are struggling more than we expected,\u201d he conceded.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, when I keep in touch with Yuki and listen to his various stories, he seems to take it more positively than I expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we can continue to do so if the competitiveness of our cars improves and we can seize good opportunities. To that end, we at HRC will continue to fully back up the project.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honda backs Tsunoda to prove F1 worth<\/p>\n

Tsunoda has been connected with a switch to Aston Martin since the announcement in 2023 that Honda will become the team\u2019s exclusive engine provider from 2026.<\/p>\n

However, Aston Martin has been insistent that it will head into next season\u2019s regulation revamp with Fernando Alonso partnering Lance Stroll in an unchanged line-up<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Watanabe has accepted that the onus is on Tsunoda to produce results in the remaining 12 rounds to enhance the chances that he remains on the grid.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe expectations have not changed, and if he achieves results in the second half of the season, I think that will increase his chances for the future,\u201d he hinted.<\/p>\n

When asked whether Haas\u2019 alliance with a direct competitor in Toyota could be a hurdle to a possible deal, Watanabe replied: \u201cNo problem. They are not Team Toyota.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haas, though, has the experienced Esteban Ocon tied to a multi-term deal along with Ferrari prot\u00e9g\u00e9 Oliver Bearman, who has impressed in his rookie campaign in F1.<\/p>\n

Alongside the Kannapolis-based squad, Alpine was another team rumoured to have had discussions with Tsunoda\u2019s camp in 2024 prior to his extension with Red Bull.<\/p>\n

READ MORE \u2013 Pierre Gasly admits something \u2018doesn\u2019t seem right\u2019 with Red Bull second seat woe<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Honda has indicated it would not block a potential Yuki Tsunoda move to Haas, despite the team\u2019s partnership…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,817,5328,914,806,805,803,804,15196,85,15197,5077],"class_list":["post-13614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-haas","tag-honda","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-redbull","tag-sports","tag-watanabe","tag-yuki-tsunoda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}