The 2025 Formula 1 season has brought about mixed success for the sport’s new faces thus far.
Mercedes protege Kimi Antonelli has been by far the most impressive rookie, displaying great maturity as he sits fifth in the standings with 30 points. The Italian became the youngest driver in F1 history to lead a race at the Japanese Grand Prix.
| Position | Drivers’ Championship | Points |
| 1 |
Lando Norris |
62 |
| 2 |
Max Verstappen |
61 |
| 3 |
Oscar Piastri |
49 |
| 4 |
George Russell |
45 |
| 5 |
Andrea Kimi Antonelli |
30 |
| 6 |
Charles Leclerc |
20 |
| 7 |
Alexander Albon |
18 |
| 8 |
Lewis Hamilton |
15 |
| 9 |
Esteban Ocon |
10 |
| 10 |
Lance Stroll |
10 |
Suzuka saw two other rookies grab points with Isack Hadjar and Oliver Bearman finishing eighth and 10th respectively. The former recorded his first points of the season in Japan for Racing Bulls – he has recovered sensationally from his crash on the formation lap on his F1 debut in Melbourne.
After three races in 2025, Liam Lawson, Jack Doohan and Gabriel Bortoleto are yet to score points, while Alpine are the only team that are pointless heading into the Bahrain Grand Prix. Amid these three drivers’ struggles, the F1 driver market has already come into play.
Lawson was demoted to Racing Bulls for Suzuka after a dismal start to the year at Red Bull. Yuki Tsunoda has replaced him for the remainder of the season as the Milton Keynes-based outfit hope he can be an improvement, but the Japanese driver already has his doubters.
Tim Coronel says Yuki Tsunoda is already ‘not good enough’ after failing to score points for Red Bull at Suzuka
Tsunoda had impressed on the simulator before his home race at Suzuka, but the 24-year-old would have known the high-pressure situation he was heading into. The RB21 has proved a difficult start to drive in 2025 – even for Max Verstappen, despite the setup being so tailored to his driving style.
Red Bull have struggled to find the right operating window for their 2025 challenger thus far, but they appeared to strike gold in Japan. Verstappen produced a stunning drive to take pole position and keep the McLarens behind to win his first race of the season.
| Pos | Driver | Car | Time/retired | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT | 1:22:06.983 | 25 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren Mercedes | +1.423s | 18 |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren Mercedes | +2.129s | 15 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +16.097s | 12 |
| 5 | George Russell | Mercedes | +17.362s | 10 |
| 6 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | +18.671s | 8 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | +29.182s | 6 |
| 8 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls Honda RBPT | +37.134s | 4 |
| 9 | Alexander Albon | Williams Mercedes | +40.367s | 2 |
| 10 | Oliver Bearman | Haas Ferrari | +54.529s | 1 |
| 11 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes | +57.333s | 0 |
| 12 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT | +58.401s | 0 |
| 13 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine Renault | +62.122s | 0 |
| 14 | Carlos Sainz | Williams Mercedes | +74.129s | 0 |
| 15 | Jack Doohan | Alpine Renault | +81.314s | 0 |
| 16 | Nico Hulkenberg | Kick Sauber Ferrari | +81.957s | 0 |
| 17 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls Honda RBPT | +82.734s | 0 |
| 18 | Esteban Ocon | Haas Ferrari | +83.438s | 0 |
| 19 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Kick Sauber Ferrari | +83.897s | 0 |
| 20 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes | +1 lap | 0 |
However, Tsunoda inherited Lawson’s problems as he was considerably off the pace to his teammate. While he was an improvement on the New Zealander as he reached Q2 – Lawson could only manage P18 and P20 in Melbourne and Shanghai respectively – the Japanese driver was 15th.
The 24-year-old managed to climb to P12 in the race. Considering he had limited experience in the RB21 prior to the race and multiple drivers struggled to overtake in the dirty air, it was a respectable weekend for Tsunoda – but Tim Coronel was not as accepting.
Speaking via RacingNews365, the Dutch pundit says Tsunoda needs to ‘at least’ score points if Verstappen is winning in the same car: “He is not good enough for this car,” he said.
“Because otherwise he would have been more forward. Let’s just say that first. But if you look at it in relation to the entire field, I don’t think he has fallen through the ice that much. You have to get points, come on. If someone comes first, then you have to get at least points.”
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Yuki Tsunoda is now in the same position as Liam Lawson at Red Bull
It is perhaps unreasonable for people to think that the 24-year-old could step into the RB21 and perform, given his limited experience. Jacques Villeneuve felt Tsunoda could ‘never’ be fast on his Red Bull debut as he ‘played it safe’ with his setup.
This was likely because he was still getting used to the car – and he appeared frustrated, much like his predecessor Lawson. Tsunoda found it hard to follow other cars at Suzuka as he constantly complained to his race engineer over the radio.
Tsunoda’s final radio message highlighted his frustrations – he knows he must be better in qualifying after only managing P15. However, the RB21 clearly has its limitations and Red Bull must find the answers or risk falling further behind the likes of McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari.
So far, Verstappen has scored all of Red Bull’s points, while Lawson and now Tsunoda have struggled to find performance. The latter has been thrust into the team to find results, but he can only do so much with a car that is underdeveloped and tricky to drive.
While it is true that Tsunoda does need to perform better on Saturday and fight for points, Red Bull have to find a solution to their problems or risk yet another driver drowning in the second seat.
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