With the promotion of Yuki Tsunoda, a report claims that Red Bull is set to receive over $10 million from Honda as part of their internal deal. As per renowned F1 insider and photo journalist Kym Illman, Honda pays Red Bull to have Tsunoda in the Austrian team, and now with the promotion, it will pay an additional $10 million to the Milton Keynes-based team.
Tsunoda, being a Japanese driver, is actively backed by Honda. The Japanese automobile manufacturer has been supportive of the driver since his junior racing days, and they kept backing him in the most prominent form of motorsports.
As per Illman, Honda pays Red Bull around $10 million to keep him inside the Red Bull fraternity, and now will apparently pay the additional sum following his promotion. On this subject, Illman said the following in his latest Instagram video:
Trending
"Well, Japan is an important race for Honda. Honda already pays something like 10 million euros to have Yuki drive in the Racing Bulls team. Last year, they offered Red Bull another 10 million if Yuki got the promotion to the senior team. Red Bull said no, and they ran with Liam. When Red Bull realized that things weren't going well with Liam, they went back to Honda."
"I gather in the last week or so, and said 'Look, will you stump up some more money now if we bring him to Red Bull? They've (Honda) said yes, and sources are suggesting perhaps another 10 million. But they demanded he be in by the Japan race, which is what around a week or so away because they would get huge publicity for that move," he further added.
The upcoming Japanese GP in Suzuka will be a monumental event for the brand and the driver, and it will be interesting to see how he fares on his debut with his new team.
What led Red Bull to make the Liam Lawson-Yuki Tsunoda swap so early in the season?
After only two races into the 2025 season, Red Bull demoted Liam Lawson to Racing Bulls, and promoted Yuki Tsunoda to the senior team. The reason? It appears to be Lawson's underwhelming performances combined with Tsunoda's promising start to the year.
Lawson had a disastrous start to his 2025 season after he qualified in P18 in Australia and came home in P12. In China, he qualified in the last position for the Sprint, and then finished the Sprint in P14.
His qualifying for the main race also turned out to be similar — P20, so was the race — P12. Comparatively, Yuki Tsunoda had Q3 appearances in all three outings (Two races, One Sprint).
