Júki Cunoda did not convince the management of Red Bull that he deserves a seat for the next season as well. According to the Dutch journalist Erik van Haren, the red bulls have already decided who will sit in their cockpits, and the Japanese racer will remain in the vinegar. However, the Red Bulls still need the last help from him.
Red Bull originally wanted to decide on its drivers already in the fall, but in the end the deadline was postponed and postponed. One of the reasons was also the fact that he did not have a sufficiently relevant sample of the performance of Júki Cunoda, who repeatedly paid for strategic failures or bad luck. But now there is nothing to wait for.
“All I can tell you is that we will stick to our plan and announce our rider line-up on Tuesday,” the head of Red Bull revealed Laurent Mekies v Katare. “We are confident that this will not disrupt our focus on Abu Dhabi.”
Red Bull was more or less clear already during the weekend. The Dutch journalist Erik van Haren, who is a kind of insider of the Austrian stable, has already revealed the verdict. Not very surprising. Isack Hadjar is to become Max Verstappen’s teammate next season. In the junior stable, Arvid Lindblad is in charge, and Liam Lawson, who had a good second half of the season, should continue.
Júki Cunoda will thus not be rewarded even if he secures the championship for Max Verstappen in Abu Dhabi by beating or at least holding off Lando Norris, as Sergio Pérez did in 2021. However, this is exactly what Red Bull will demand from its driver.
“It could decide a single point. It will be mega important,” he said in reference to Cunoda’s performance Meekies. “You saw that Lando fell into the pack with Kimi [Antonellim] and Carlos [Sainzom]but he was very close to falling behind Fernando and other boys, including Júki.”
“It will be extremely important that Júki is 100% ready. He drove a good weekend with us. He was strong on Friday and he was also strong in the sprint, in which he took fifth place. Yes, he dropped out in Q1, but he lost only three tenths to Max. A lot of guys would be very happy if they only lost three tenths to Max in qualifying,” continued the head of the Austrian stable. “He had a strong weekend. Now we need another good weekend from him in Abu Dhabi because we will need absolutely everything.”
