Yuki Tsunoda is set to keep his seat at RB next year and extend his Formula One career to a fifth season, according to Red Bull’s motorsport consultant Helmut Marko.
Speaking to Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung, the influential Marko was also quoted as saying he has agreed to a truce in his strained relationship with Red Bull boss Christian Horner, enabling them to focus on ensuring the team recovers its winning form.
On Tsunoda’s future, after he had failed to gain a promotion from RB to the senior Red Bull team alongside three-time world champion Max Verstappen, Marko said: “Yuki Tsunoda is set. That’s clear.”
When asked about his relationship with Horner, who was accused of controlling behavior from a female team member, Marko said the pair reached an understanding.
“We will have to join forces,” he said. “Even if we are no longer superior, we want to win. But we definitely need to make the most of it and look towards the world title.”
Horner and Marko have been embroiled in a power struggle for greater control of the team and 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 landing a seat at Red Bull when the team chose to extend the contract of Sergio Perez instead.
Before Perez’s new deal was announced, Tsunoda had said he was ready to leave the Red Bull squad if he was overlooked, but added: “I also have a big loyalty to Red Bull as without them I wouldn’t be here.”