Nov 23, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Visa Cash App RB driver Yuki Tsunoda (22) during the Las Vegas Grand Prix at Las Vegas Circuit. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

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Racing Bulls Formula 1 Season Guide and Predictions

VisaCashApp RB Formula 1 Team

Nov 23, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Visa Cash App RB driver Yuki Tsunoda (22) during the Las Vegas Grand Prix at Las Vegas Circuit. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Team Name	Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team
Base	Faenza, Italy
Team Principal	Laurent Mekies
Drivers	Isack Hajdar- #6; Yuki Tsunoda- #22

Season Recap 2024

The 2024 Formula 1 season was just another bad season for RB. They are the sister team of Red Bull but they do not share a speck of results from Red Bull. Also, considering the fact that RB is constantly plagued by Red Bull’s decisions and sudden driver changes, it does not help their cause in the least. The 2024 Formula 1 season was not at all good for RB with either Tsunoda or Ricciardo.

However, Liam Lawson managed to secure some quick points for the team in the late season. His performance got him promoted to Red Bull (which was equally controversial considering Yuki Tsunoda’s involvement in the Junior team for a long time).

History

Racing Bulls debuted in Formula 1 as the Minardi Formula 1 team in 1985. It was bought by Red Bull in 2006 to serve as the Junior team. Throughout history, the team has been housing various Red Bulls talents. These include future world champions- Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen and race winners- Carlos Sainz Jr. and Daniel Ricciardo. In the early days, their team used to compete on equal levels with Red Bull.

Incidentally, Toro Rosso (their name in 2008) became the first Red Bull owned team to win a race in Formula 1 with Sebastian Vettel behind the wheel. They repeated the historic victory in 2020 with Pierre Gasly. The Racing Bulls team has a history of being plagued by the bad driver decisions and junior driver settlements made by Red Bull. They are criticised for the lack of personality and the frequent experiments with driver pairings.

Stats Table

Year	Points	WCC
2006	1	9th
2007	8	7th
2008	39	6th
2009	8	10th
2010	13	9th
2011	41	8th
2012	26	9th
2013	33	8th
2014	30	7th
2015	67	7th
2016	63	7th
2017	53	7th
2018	33	9th
2019	85	6th
2020	107	7th
2021	142	6th
2022	35	9th
2023	25	8th
2024	46	8th

Predictions for 2025

Racing Bulls (or whatever name they choose for the 2025 season) can only expect to minimise the damage done by driver changes (if any) and try to compete as a regular midfield team. They can’t run away from the fact that they are a part of another Red Bull junior driver experiment. However, they do have an experienced driver- Yuki Tsunoda.

Racing Bulls will have to prioritise Tsunoda if he produces good results for the team and work with him to bring better results. Again, if Helmut Marko strikes again, Racing Bulls will lose another driver and will have to restart their plans midway through the season.

Yuki Tsunoda

Name	Yuki Tsunoda
Birthplace	Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan
Birthdate	11 May 2000

Yuki Tsunoda has been a part of the Red Bull junior team since 2019. He was introduced to the Formula 1 grid in 2021, paired alongside Pierre Gasly. Initially, Tsunoda benefited a lot from his partnership with Gasly at Alpha Tauri. Tsunoda even managed to beat Gasly consistently during many races and qualifying sessions. However, he was looked down on due to his frequent bursts of anger. His profane language on the radio earned him a warning from his superiors at Red Bull. Tsunoda was not even considered for the 2025 Red Bull seat even though he had proven himself time and again. He might be called mid-season to replace Lawson in case Red Bull thinks they want to ruin a driver’s career just for the fun of it. Until then, Tsunoda will be expected to lead the way for Racing Bulls.

Stats Table

Seasons raced	4
No of races	90
Points	91

Isack Hajdar

Name	Yuki Tsunoda
Birthplace	Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan
Birthdate	11 May 2000

Isack Hajdar is the runner-up of the 2024 Formula 2 driver’s championship. He will join the grid in 2025 becoming the fifth Rookie driver of the 2025 season. Hajdar will have to go up against talented drivers from his Formula 2 days in better cars than him. He might have to consider the possibility of getting promoted to Red Bull on a random day and expected to become the next Max Verstappen or Sebastian Vettel. Or he may become a forever second driver at Racing Bulls, much like his partner Yuki Tsunoda.

Nevertheless, Hajdar has shown promising talent in Formula 2 and he may be able to provide better results than previous RB drivers. His performance has earned him the title of “le Petit Prost”. It would be interesting to see how brings his title to justice in Formula 1, especially under the aggressive scrutiny of Red Bull.

Formula 1

Formula 1 2025 Season

Formula 1 Teams

Isack Hajdar

RB Formula 1

Yuki Tsunoda

Rohan Singh

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I work as a Writer at The Playoffs specialising in NHL, Formula 1 and Motorsports. I got into online journalism a couple of years ago. I used to be an intern for a website managing their Formula 1 content and then I served an entire year as a contractual writer.