It was another case of Red Bull Racing concentrating on two very different situations during the Japanese Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen was at his brilliant best, leading the race from start to finish to deliver Red Bull’s first victory of the season.
Verstappen stunned his Formula 1 rivals with an unbelievable lap that earned him pole position ahead of both McLaren drivers.
Lando Norris accused Verstappen of driving him off the road as they were coming out of the pits, but that was the closest the Japanese Grand Prix came to providing any sort of interesting action.
In stark contrast, Yuki Tsunoda had a Red Bull debut to forget after such a promising start to the race weekend.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner sent Liam Lawson a message after he outqualified the Japanese driver at the first opportunity on his return to Racing Bulls when an enforced swap was put in place after his disappointing start to the season.
While Tsunoda finished ahead of Lawson during the race, Ted Kravitz spotted something during his performance that left him worried and will already be concerning Red Bull.
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Ted Kravitz says Yuki Tsunoda’s Japanese Grand Prix lap times were ‘not great’
Kravitz was covering the race at Suzuka from the pit lane for Sky Sports F1 (6/4 7:03 am) with no drivers in the top six able to make a single overtake during the Grand Prix.
During the closing stages of the weekend, he said: “Well, in general with these cars now, you talk about papaya rules, if McLaren have any juice in those papayas, they need to start squeezing them now because Max is absolutely equal to anything Lando and Oscar can throw at him at the moment!
“Just a quick one on Yuki Tsunoda, I’ve been following his lap times, they’re not great.
“He’s about five seconds off a point, which is currently held by Ollie Bearman, and making very little impact on Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin ahead of him.
“So that early promise of Yuki Tsunoda this weekend in the Red Bull has not shown in the race at all.”
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Yuki Tsunoda wins surprising Driver of the Day vote at the Japanese Grand Prix
After Kimi Antonelli’s surprised reaction to winning Driver of the Day in China was quickly followed up by another puzzling choice on Sunday.
Tsunoda was named Driver of the Day by fans at Suzuka, despite making up just two places over the 53-lap race.
He overtook Lawson during the opening stages, before taking advantage of a slugging Pierre Gasly pit stop to overtake his former teammate.
Formula 1 may have to start questioning whether the vote is still worth doing if fans aren’t taking it seriously.
| RACE | DRIVER | TEAM | POSITION |
| Australian GP | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1st |
| Chinese GP | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 6th |
| Japanese GP | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull | 12th |
While there were very few standout performances up and down the grid, Verstappen aside, Tsunoda’s point-less first weekend with Red Bull will feel like a letdown.
Tsunoda was caught out earlier in the race weekend, and will be hoping that the upcoming races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia help him deliver his first points for the team.
So far, only Red Bull, Aston Martin and Sauber have had to rely on one driver to score every point for the team this season – with Alpine still yet to get off the mark – but Tsunoda will know the pressure is on to change that stat as quickly as possible.
