Still very much in the learning phase with the Red Bull RB21, Yuki Tsunoda plans to use that as his springboard to beating Max Verstappen.

And Tsunoda received a message of encouragement from 1996 World Champion Damon Hill on that quest.

Yuki Tsunoda at Red Bull: Can he beat Max Verstappen?

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

After a torrid two race weekends at Red Bull alongside Verstappen for Liam Lawson, the New Zealander was sent back to junior team VCARB, with Tsunoda coming the other way.

The second Red Bull RB21 scored points for the first time in F1 2025 with Tsunoda at the wheel in Bahrain, as he continues the process of adapting to his new machinery after four-and-a-bit-seasons with VCARB.

Speaking with media, including PlanetF1.com, ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Tsunoda noted that the “pace has to come at the same time” as he learns how to best use the Red Bull RB21, as he pointed out “qualifying and the race” as the sessions that matter.

He added: “And as long as those two sessions I’m in a good position, that Red Bull wants me to be in… Just for me, FP1 to FP3 I use like learning sessions.”

And when Tsunoda’s learning is complete, and he feels comfortable extracting the full potential from Red Bull’s F1 2025 creation, he fancies his chances of overhauling their reigning four-time World Champion Max Verstappen, who in recent years, has become something of a Red Bull team-mate killer.

“It’s my first time driving a completely different car,” Tsunoda continued, “I only drove with the VCARB car for the last four years. It’s the first time I drove a completely different team’s car.

“I’m trying to use that, and I know that if I unlock that area, I would be able to probably beat him [Verstappen].

“I know myself that I can’t beat him straight away, so I’m just trying to build a good baseline and wait for the moment that I can be in the shape.”

That Tsunoda claim was picked up on by Hill, who up until the end of 2024, served as a pundit for Sky F1.

And the Brit had four words for Tsunoda as he reacted in an Instagram story, those being: “Go for it Yuki.”

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Tsunoda would highlight a key difference for himself and Verstappen currently when at the wheel of the Red Bull RB21, relating to feeling inside the cockpit.

And he gave an example of how it allows Verstappen to respond and adapt.

“He can feel more than myself in that car,” said Tsunoda of Verstappen, “like how the tyre temp looks like, you know, get out from the garage.

“And in qualifying, this is a good example, the track temps going low, lower and lower throughout the qualifying, and he adjusted, from Q1 to Q3. When the temperature is going lower, he adjusted himself, and warm-up, how he should warm-up, how he should put the pressure into the tyres, to increase the lap time, or increase the pace of the out-lap, or whatever.

“But inside [the car] for me, I didn’t feel it that way. I didn’t be able to feel that. Which I did in the VCARB, but I didn’t feel it in this car yet.

“Because probably just I’m not fully relaxing driving this car. I just feel I’m still rushing and not fully in control yet. So those things, I mean, I kind of expect this. I’m not really like, ‘Oh, what is this?’ And actually, I’m in the shape that happier more than I expected.

“So, like I said I’m rushing, but it’s not really rushing. But I think that kind of few details is really important with his current regulation, with this very sensitive tyre, and you know, even that one tenth, or few milliseconds in each corner.”

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