Sergio Perez believes that Yuki Tsunoda has what it takes to deliver at Red Bull following the team’s decision to promote the Japanese driver and demote Liam Lawson back to Racing Bulls just two races into the season.
After four years with the squad, Perez parted ways with Red Bull following the end of the 2024 campaign, one in which the Mexican struggled to get to grips with the RB20 while team mate Max Verstappen claimed a fourth Drivers’ Championship on the other side of the garage.
EXCLUSIVE: Perez reveals talks with ‘a few’ teams as he hints at possible F1 return
The agreement reached by Perez and the team saw the 35-year-old depart with immediate effect despite having two years remaining on his contract – leaving a vacancy at Red Bull for 2025, with the outfit subsequently opting to promote Lawson to the seat off the back of two super-sub stints for Racing Bulls in 2023 and 2024.
However, Lawson endured two challenging weekends in Australia and China, having crashed out of the first amid treacherous conditions before qualifying at the very back in both the Sprint and the main Grand Prix during the latter.
Liam Lawson replaced by Yuki Tsunoda
In the days after the Chinese Grand Prix, Red Bull announced that Lawson would return to Racing Bulls from the Japanese Grand Prix onwards while Tsunoda would take his place at the main outfit alongside Verstappen, meaning that Tsunoda will make his debut for the team in front of his home crowd at Suzuka.
Speaking exclusively to F1.com, Perez voiced his hopes that his former team can improve after a tough start to the campaign and also gave his backing to Tsunoda ahead of the 24-year-old’s first race for the squad.
“I really want the team to do well, as I have a lot of friends at the team,” said Perez. “I spent four years with them and I want to see them doing well. It’s just a very hard thing to talk about.
“Right now, I’m on the outside, I’ve been in touch with some team members there – but when you’re not there internally, it’s hard to know [what’s happening].
“For me, it was very simple, the car is just quite difficult to get 100% out of it, to get the confidence out of it – and the things I struggled with, even Adrian [Newey, the team’s former design chief] talked about them.
“But I want to wish them the best. Woody, who is a great friend of mine, is engineering Yuki now so I really hope they do well.
Perez believes that Tsunoda has the «right mentality» to perform well at Red Bull
“Yuki has the talent, has the speed and, more than that, you need the mentality to cope with it. I think he has the right mentality and the right attitude to cope with it. I hope they will succeed.”
Reflecting back on his own time with Red Bull – and whether he might make a return to the grid with a new project in the future – Perez commented: “Especially last year, I didn’t get to show what I’m able to do as a driver. Now, all of a sudden, people realise how difficult the car is to drive.
“When I joined Red Bull, there had been great drivers who had struggled – Alex [Albon], Pierre [Gasly], they are fantastic drivers and they struggled.
“I spent so long in Red Bull that everyone forgot how difficult the car is to drive, so that was tricky.
“I feel like that if there is a project that makes sense to me – and also with the regulations changing for 2026 – I feel like taking a year out won’t have any impact if I were to come back.”
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