Are we finally going to have some stability at home? Red Bull in the coming months? It's possible. In any case, listening to the management of the Austrian team after the Japanese Grand Prix, the choice Yuki tsunoda seems to be satisfying. The Japanese driver, promoted to the parent team to replace Liam Lawson, contested his first Grand Prix with Red Bull at home, at Suzuka. And even though he wasn't able to qualify for Q3 on Saturday or score points on Sunday, his performance and potential seem to have convinced Christian Horner and Helmut Marko.
The Austrian, a special advisor and emblematic figure of the Red Bull team, has also assured that the second seat should not change hands until the end of the season. "Yuki is actually happy with Max's settings. They have the same preferences, so they go well together, Helmut Marko told the Austrian channel ORF. Of course, it's important for us to have two cars in the points. The first race went smoothly. He was always two or three tenths behind Max in practice and qualifying until he was eliminated. It's an achievement when you don't have more time. Yuki will finish the season at Red Bull."
Better days in Bahrain for Tsunoda?
This is enough to reassure the new Red Bull driver who, despite a mixed performance at Suzuka, seems to have taken the measure of his new status with the Austrian team. Faced with the pressure of the result and that of his home crowd, who came out in force to support him last weekend, the 24-year-old driver immediately showed himself to be more efficient than his predecessor, Liam Lawson, who had failed to make it out of Q1 in Australia and China. In Japan, Yuki Tsunoda compromised his weekend due to a mistake in the first corner, during his final attempt in Q2. Forced to start 14th, in the heart of the pack, he was unable to move up beyond 12th place at the end of a generally soporific race, where overtaking was not common.
After his home race, Yuki Tsunoda admitted to having "mixed feelings" After his performance, he was obviously disappointed not to have finished better than 12th on home soil. The Japanese hopes to show better things at the next event, this weekend on the Sakhir circuit. “I need to reset before Bahrain and I'm sure that based on how I felt, in terms of sensations and confidence, it will naturally be better there. I'll understand the car better and I'm looking forward to the next race, I just need to do better in qualifying.”
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Yves-Henri RANDIER
09/04/2025 at 12:25 a.m.
Tsunhonda will finish the season with Red Bull, due to a lack of other available drivers, but is that good Doktor Helmooooout telling the truth? That being said, Honda is happy, Red Bull avoided destroying Lawson and will not be the constructors' champion, which will allow it to gain even more hours in the wind tunnel. Let them let Hadjar do his apprenticeship at Ridiculous Bulls!
vincent moyet
09/04/2025 at 12:13 a.m.
...and in fact Horner didn't lie: it was precisely to avoid burning Lawson that they transferred him so quickly to Racing Bulls.
vincent moyet
09/04/2025 at 12:11 a.m.
They know that the car designed for Verstappen is undriveable by anyone else. And it's not for his pretty eyes that they're keeping Tsunoda, it's because he's the one they chose to sacrifice in this doomed role, given that he'll be leaving with Honda.
Bouttefort
08/04/2025 at 08:43 a.m.
Yeah, we'll do the math at the end of the year. I'm still convinced there's a problem with them because I've never seen such a big gap between teammates from the time of Senna, Schumacher and Hamilton, for example...