Red Bull is happy with Yuki Tsunoda’s performance so far.
After Liam Lawson was essentially the slowest driver in the entire field in Australia and China, Red Bull ousted him and put Tsunoda at the wheel.
A conspicuous gap to Max Verstappen remains, but team advisor Dr Helmut Marko declared after Suzuka and Bahrain that the Japanese driver will remain in the sister Red Bull for the remainder of 2025.
However, on Friday in Saudi Arabia, Tsunoda awkwardly crashed the car.
Marko, though, was completely unfazed: “The speed is good, and the gap to Max is absolutely pleasing.”
Indeed, 24-year-old Tsunoda reports that he is gradually building up confidence in the car with a setup and a driving style that is similar to Verstappen’s.
“The feeling in the car was actually good,” he said after the Friday crash. “I felt really comfortable, both on the long run and on the faster short runs.”
Tsunoda confirmed that he is meeting Red Bull’s expectations so far.
“I am still learning of course, but at the same time I also have to show some pace,” he said. “But as long as I am where Red Bull wants me to be in qualifying and the race, I can use the free practice sessions to learn.
“I know that if I can tap into my full potential, I can probably beat him,” Tsunoda added, referring to quadruple world champion Verstappen.
Verstappen’s countryman and fellow racing driver, Renger van der Zande, warns Tsunoda not to get too confident.
“The little man has a big mouth,” he laughed. “But he really shouldn’t get it seriously in his head that he’s going to beat Max.
“Everyone gets pretty close, but every time someone thinks they’ve finally got him, it goes wrong. The nice thing about Yuki is that it doesn’t seem like he cares about all of that.
“He swears a bit, but he’s pretty relaxed. Even when he crashed, I think he still thought it was all a bit funny.”
Similarly, amid all the talk about post-race arguments and crisis meetings at Red Bull after the Bahrain GP calamity, Tsunoda didn’t let any of it bother him.
“I mean, in the meeting after the race, there was not the most pleasant atmosphere in the engineering room,” he said. “Everyone was just saying their feelings about the race.
“I don’t know what the bosses were talking about. Maybe Max had another meeting – I don’t know.”
