Helmut Marko has revealed that Yuki Tsunoda “had the speed” to reach Q3 on his Red Bull debut, but was undone by a couple of mistakes on his final lap of Japanese Grand Prix qualifying.

Tsunoda is making his Red Bull debut at his home race at Suzuka this weekend after swapping seats with Liam Lawson, who was demoted to the Racing Bulls sister team after just two races of F1 2025.

Helmut Marko: Yuki Tsunoda had the pace for Q3 on Red Bull debut

Red Bull’s swap sees Tsunoda become Max Verstappen’s third different team-mate in the last four races, stretching back to Lawson’s predecessor Sergio Perez’s last appearance for the team at the 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi.

As revealed by PlanetF1.com’s post-practice data analysis, Tsunoda equipped himself well on his first day as a Red Bull driver at Suzuka, outpacing the reigning four-time World Champion in sector 2 on Friday.

However, Tsunoda’s pace did not translate to qualifying as he lapped a distant 15th, slower than Lawson and former team-mate Isack Hadjar, who claimed a second consecutive Q3 appearance for Racing Bulls.

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Tsunoda ended up being 0.5 seconds slower than Verstappen in Q2, with the World Champion going on to claim his first pole of the season.

Marko has claimed that Tsunoda would have joined his new team-mate in Q3 but for a couple of mistakes on his final lap.

He told Austrian outlet ORF: “Yuki would also have had the speed.

“Unfortunately, he made a mistake in turn 1 and then another one, otherwise he would have made it [into Q3].”

With rain expected on Sunday, Marko claimed that Tsunoda could yet salvage a points finish on his Red Bull debut if Safety Cars work in his favour.

He added: “Now we have to see what the weather will be like. It will be difficult to finish in the points.

“But Safety Car and things like that, if they happen at the right time, then I think it will be possible.”

Tsunoda pointed to poor tyre preparation and a gust of wind at turn 2 for his mistakes, admitting it was “a shame” to have missed out on Q3.

He said: “Q1 felt pretty good. I just missed the window, I guess.

“The window that this car can operate [in] is very narrow and the [tyre] warm up [is tricky].

“Probably most of the things have to be perfect, especially warm up and especially Q2 run two I wasn’t able to do the warm up I wanted like the previous one.

“So that makes a big difference, something I learned and recognise for the future, but it was a bit too late.

“I had a quite big gust in Turn 2 and a quite big moment, which was a bit unexpected, so have to look at what’s happened there.

“But at least I showed a good pace in Q1 and I feel like I’m more confident in the car.

“I’m sure, in the process, I’m still learning, but it’s a shame. We didn’t expect this result today.”

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Tsunoda vowed to be “patient” in his bid to get fully up to speed in the RB21, having already overhauled Lawson’s achievements in the car by reaching Q2 at the first time of asking.

Lawson failed to make it past Q1 in all three qualifying sessions he participated in for Red Bull, qualifying 18th in Australia before lapping slowest of all for the sprint and main race in China.

Tsunoda said: “I’ll be patient.

“I was expecting a little bit more today, so that definitely makes a bit of disappointment now.

“But it’s not impossible. I felt, over the last two days, that if I learn more and am able to sync with the car much more, I know I can extract much more consistently, which is important.

“So it’ll be an interesting race tomorrow, if its raining or whatever, I’ll do my best.”

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