Yuki Tsunoda has backed Visa Cash App RB's partnership with Red Bull to push the junior team to greater heights.
2024 will be Tsunoda's fourth season with the team formerly known as AlphaTauri, having been their only bastion of stability in a 2023 season which saw him have three different team-mates.
However, whilst Tsunoda performed well, the team had a troubled 2023 season, with Franz Tost confirming his departure from the team as early as after March’s Saudi Arabian GP. Tsunoda was also joined by a revolving door of teammates, with rookie new signing Nyck de Vries dismissed from the team following the British GP for Daniel Ricciardo.
Liam Lawson replaced Ricciardo for five rounds after sustaining a hand injury in a practice crash for the Dutch GP, but the Australian got the nod for 2024, relegating Lawson back to a reserve driver role. VCARB will use Red Bull’s 2023 pull-rod front suspension to improve on-track performance and incorporate elements of Red Bull’s all-conquering RB19 into the VCARB-01.
“As a goal, we don’t just want to be in the top 10, but we hope that at some point in the future, we will also be able to fight against Red Bull,” Tsunoda said at the launch of the VCARB 01.
“We weren’t entirely happy with what we were able to achieve in the last two years. Obviously, last year, we managed to grow in the second half of the season, but in the first part, we struggled a lot, we expected better performances.
“Already from 2022, we wanted to make progress, we wanted better results. I think we needed this process.
“If we go back to 2021, we had a very competitive car, especially with Pierre [Gasly] managing to collect excellent results in the race, we need those results at least. And I think that with this collaboration [with Red Bull], we can do it.”