Helmut Marko has delivered his verdict on Yuki Tsunoda’s qualifying at the Japanese Grand Prix after the home hero only set the 15th-fastest time on his Red Bull debut.
The 2025 F1 season may only be in its third round at Suzuka this weekend yet it has already seen one driver change. Red Bull have promoted Tsunoda from Racing Bulls to replace Liam Lawson as they strive to improve their RB21 and their F1 constructors’ championship hopes.
Red Bull already trail reigning champions McLaren by 42 points in part thanks to Lawson not scoring any across his two rounds with the team. But the Milton Keynes outfit are primed to fight mainly single-handily, again, in the Japanese GP with Max Verstappen on pole position.
Verstappen stunned McLaren to steal pole at Suzuka as he beat Lando Norris by 0.014s and Oscar Piastri by 0.044s. But while the 27-year-old extracted the potential of the tricky RB21, Tsunoda toiled in qualifying for the Japanese GP and bowed out in Q2 on his Red Bull debut.
Helmut Marko hints Yuki Tsunoda proved his inconsistency issues in qualifying for the Japanese GP
The 24-year-old is due to start Sunday’s race from 14th on the grid after Williams ace Carlos Sainz received a three-place grid penalty for impeding Ferrari pilot Lewis Hamilton. Tsunoda ‘didn’t expect’ a Q2 exit on his Red Bull debut in Japan, though, after feeling buoyant in FP3.
His confidence failed to carry over into qualifying with Tsunoda just 15th-fastest in Q2 while Verstappen scooped P3 with 0.498 seconds between the Red Bull teammates’ lap times. He was also behind Lawson on the Kiwi’s Racing Bulls return with the 23-year-old 0.094s faster.
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One of Tsunoda’s major problems in qualifying for the Japanese GP was getting his tyres up to temperature for his final push lap in Q2. Red Bull motorsport advisor Marko also saw the Kanagawa native make two costly mistakes that proved Tsunoda’s issues with inconsistency.
“Yuki had the speed but made two mistakes on his lap,” Marko told F1-Insider. “That’s the pressure. In his first race, that can happen. The field is so close.
“Yuki has the image of being inconsistent and lacking a good grasp of technology. And in the phase where the decisions were made, he threw the car away twice.”
Yuki Tsunoda emulates Sergio Perez with Q2 exit on his Red Bull debut
The Japanese Grand Prix weekend has given Tsunoda a quick lesson in how challenging Red Bull’s 2025 F1 car can be, with the RB21’s sharp front end and loose rear. The Japanese gem will hope he can quickly put those teachings into practice after a tough qualifying at Suzuka.
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Tsunoda will hope history is not set to repeat itself now, too, after emulating Sergio Perez by failing to get out of Q2 on his debut with Red Bull. The 34-year-old failed to reach Q3 on his debut for the Milton Keynes crew at the 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix upon replacing Alex Albon.
But while Tsunoda was the slowest driver in Q2 at the 2025 Japanese GP, Perez only missed out on a Q3 place at the 2021 Bahrain GP by 0.035s – coincidently by his teammate from the previous campaign, Lance Stroll of Aston Martin. He was also just 0.341s behind Verstappen.
