Yuki Tsunoda admits: “I still haven’t got to grips with the 2025 car”

For Yuki Tsunoda, the promotion to the Red Bull Racing team came at exactly the right time: at his home race in Japan last season, he was given the chance to take the wheel of the RB21 from Liam Lawson, who was in turn sent back to the Visa Cash App Racing Bulls team. However, the move up to Red Bull’s first team proved trickier than feared for the diminutive Japanese driver.

Tsunoda failed to find his rhythm in the RB21 and finished the year in 17th place. He had scored 33 points, 30 of which came in the uninspiring GP car from Milton Keynes. His team-mate Max Verstappen demonstrated what was possible, finishing second in the World Championship with 421 points. The exceptional driver missed out on the title by just two championship points.

The consequences of this disparity in performance were inevitable: Tsunoda had to vacate his seat for the up-and-coming talent Isack Hadjar and take a place on the bench. Most recently, however, he was back on the starting grid, as Hadjar injured his left wrist, prompting Liam Lawson to step in at Red Bull Racing – and, in turn, be replaced by Tsunoda.

The 26-year-old gets on much better with the VCARB03 than with last year’s car, which he reflected on in the ‘Beyond The Grid’ podcast: ‘Normally I understand the car; I know what its characteristics are.’ And, with his usual candour, he admitted: “But even after the season finale in Abu Dhabi, I had no idea what sort of car I’d been driving.”

“I still haven’t worked out exactly what the problem was and why I found it so hard to get used to it. I thought I had the confidence, but in some races I somehow lost it. And if I’m honest, I have to admit: I still haven’t got to grips with the car,” added the driver with 114 Grand Prix starts to his name.

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