Yuki Tsunoda will keep his seat at RB next year and extend his Formula 1 career to a fifth season, according to Red Bull’s motorsport advisor Helmut Marko.
Speaking to Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung, the influential Marko also said he has agreed to a truce in his tense relationship with Red Bull boss Christian Horner, allowing them to focus on restoring the team’s winning form.
On Tsunoda’s future after failing to gain promotion from RB to the senior Red Bull team alongside three-time world champion Max Verstappen, Marko said: “Yuki Tsunoda is ready. That’s clear.”
When asked about his relationship with Horner, who was accused of controlling the behavior of a female team member, Marko said the pair had come to an agreement.
“We will have to join forces,” he said. “Even if we are no longer superior, we want to win. But we must certainly make the best of it and look towards the world title.”
Horner and Marko have been involved in a power struggle for more control over the team and its parent company since the death of Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz.
But with Verstappen struggling and failing to win in two of the last three races, the pair decided to put their differences aside for the best of the team.
Tsunoda missed out on a seat at Red Bull when the team opted to extend Sergio Perez’s contract instead.
Before Perez’s new deal was announced, Tsunoda had said he was ready to leave the Red Bull team if he was overlooked, but added: “I also have a great loyalty to Red Bull because without I wouldn’t be here with them.”
