Scoring the first points of the F1 2025 season in the second Red Bull RB21, Christian Horner says Yuki Tsunoda’s performance at the Bahrain Grand Prix was “reasonable”.

Tsunoda stepped up to Red Bull at the Japanese Grand Prix, the long-time junior driver promoted in Liam Lawson’s stead after the New Zealander’s struggles began to concern the team management.

Faint praise for Yuki Tsunoda, but it beats criticism

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Since then it’s been a month of firsts for the second RB21, Tsunoda achieving the first Q2 appearance in the second Red Bull followed by the first Q3 showing when he qualified 10th in Bahrain and then, a day later, the first points.

On a weekend in which Max Verstappen notably struggled brakes, balance and pace, the reigning World Champion a disappointing – by his standards – P6, there was a breakthrough on the other side of the garage.

Tsunoda raced his way from 10th on the grid to ninth at the chequered flag, scoring two points. While it may not seem like a huge achievement, they were the first points scored by the second RB21 this season.

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“I thought actually Yuki had a very solid weekend, he qualified in the top 10, finished in the points, he drove pretty well,” Horner told media, including PlanetF1.com

“He was only 12 or 14 seconds behind his team-mate so I thought Yuki’s race was actually reasonable.”

Tsunoda, though, may have had things a bit easier than his team-mate as Horner revealed that while he too had a few brake issues, he doesn’t have enough reference for what the car should be capable of to complain about it.

“The brake problems [for Tsunoda], I think probably to a lesser extent, but Max knows that there’s a chunk of time there to sort out,” he said. “Yuki hasn’t probably experienced that yet.”

There was, however, one reference where Tsunoda noted his RB21 was lacking and that was when it comes to the operating window compared to Red Bull’s junior team’s car, the VCARB 02.

“The thing is, the VCARB has a much wider window in which the car operates,” said the Japanese driver. “It almost doesn’t matter what you do; this car can handle any kind of balance pretty well,” Tsunoda said.

“But the Red Bull probably has a certain kind of setup, a certain window in terms of tyres and everything, and that narrow window is really hard to hit.”

“I still take it with these first points,” he added. “The progress I’m having is going it the right direction, so I’m happy with that.”

Expanding that window is just one of the key issues Red Bull are focused on in their development plan for the RB21.

“[It is] very alarming,” Marko said of their Bahrain performance. “We know that we are not competitive and there will be parts coming in the coming races and hopefully they bring improvement.

“We have a lot of problems. The main problem is balance and grip.

“And out of this, I guess the problems with the brakes came up. And then the normal procedure like a pit stop is not working, so one [issue] comes after the other.”

“With a performance like this,” he lamented, “the World Championship won’t happen.”

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