Christian Horner now ‘very happy’ with Yuki Tsunoda in one area that concerned him before his Red Bull promotion

The start of the 2025 Formula 1 season for Red Bull Racing has been difficult to navigate to say the least.

There’s no other team in the paddock dealing with such a split in terms of their drivers’ concerns than Red Bull right now.

Max Verstappen is driving like a four-time world champion who doesn’t have a championship-winning car at his disposal.

Verstappen has been critical of the team’s progress over the past 12 months, and it’s only down to his individual skill that he’s still within 12 points of drivers’ championship leader Oscar Piastri.

On the other side of the garage, engineers have been getting used to working alongside Yuki Tsunoda after his unexpected promotion.

To call it a mid-season switch would be unfair, given Liam Lawson only survived for two race weekends.

Team principal Christian Horner had to make a brutal decision, and after years of not being sure about handing Tsunoda his chance, he appears to have been pleasantly surprised.

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Christian Horner ‘very happy’ with Yuki Tsunoda’s ‘great attitude’ since Red Bull promotion

Journalist Jon Noble was speaking to The Race Members’ Club about the ongoings at Red Bull at the start of the season.

It was reported before Red Bull demoted Lawson that Horner was unsure about Tsunoda’s temperament, and it was believed that was one of the reasons why he was initially overlooked.

However, reporting on Tsunoda’s start to life at Red Bull, Noble said: “His pre-season prep starts next week, so he’s got a day in the factory on Tuesday in the simulator, then he’s got a day test in the RB19.

“So, Red Bull is throwing everything it can to try and help Yuki. Not because they’re worried about him, I think they just want to give him the platform and the ability to spend time understanding the car and the quirks and how to set up the car and different approaches, and working with hte engineers.

“And the RB19, while it isn’t identical to the current car, it is a Red Bull car, it shares some concepts, it shares some theories.

“It will give Yuki the idea and feel of what a strong ground-effect car should feel like, because this was a dominant machine, this was when it worked perfectly, and Yuki will take that knowledge and it will help him.

“I spoke to Christian Horner, they’re very happy with Yuki, they can see the progress that’s coming, they never expected him to rock up and beat Max Verstappen.

“But the technical progress is there, feedback is there, really great attitude, they’re all really, really happy with him.”

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Yuki Tsunoda missed perfect opportunity to impress Christian Horner at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Tsunoda’s Red Bull career started with a 12th-place finish at his home race in Japan after missing out on Q3 and suffering from the same problem as every other driver on the grid who couldn’t overtake that day.

He did become the first Red Bull second driver to score points in Bahrain, but that track was so badly suited to the team’s cars that Verstappen only found a way past Pierre Gasly’s Alpine on the final lap.

The 24-year-old qualified eighth in Saudi Arabia, directly in front of Verstappen’s title rival Lando Norris.

Tsunoda could have done Horner a favour by keeping Norris behind him for as long as possible, but that strategy was off the table for Red Bull before the end of the first lap.

He crashed with his old AlphaTauri teammate Gasly just a few corners into the race, and while he managed to limp back to the pit lane, he was forced to retire the car.

Tsunoda has undertaken a day of private testing at Silverstone on Wednesday in Red Bull’s 2023 car to further get up to speed, at his new team, but he’ll be pleased that at least for now, he has the backing of his new team principal.