Known for his hot-headedness, Yuki Tsunoda has admitted he needed to change his mindset after last year’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Japanese driver gave into the red mist during a moment on track with teammate Daniel Ricciardo, showing his anger in the way he drove his car.

Yuki Tsunoda: I had to change my approach

Tsunoda became well-known for being fiery over team radio during his first years in Formula 1, with the Japanese driver not afraid to shout expletives in frustration back to his garage and, thus, broadcast around the world.

While it may seem harmless in itself, there was a sense that Tsunoda’s temper was actively holding him back in his development as a racing driver and in 2024, he was overlooked for a promotion to the Red Bull F1 seat as the Milton Keynes-based squad plumped for the inexperienced Liam Lawson instead.

Tsunoda had been the standard-setter for the VCARB team throughout 2024, scoring two-thirds of the team’s points tally as Daniel Ricciardo and his replacement, Lawson, made up the remainder – but even this superiority wasn’t enough to earn Tsunoda the seat.

That was until Lawson proved unable to get to grips with the Red Bull RB21 during the first two race weekends of 2025 and, with the team eager to score points with both cars, have opted to make a switch by promoting Tsunoda alongside Max Verstappen.

Tsunoda will thus line up for the senior team at his home race this weekend in Japan, where Red Bull is rolling out with a bespoke white livery in tribute to Honda.

It’s been quite the turnaround for Tsunoda, who, towards the end of 2023, was widely reported as needing Honda’s intervention to hold onto his seat for the following season – such was the level of ambivalence towards him at that point.

But Tsunoda has dug deep to improve on his temper control, with Racing Bulls’ CEO Peter Bayer telling PlanetF1.com that the 24-year-old had improved in a significant way, saying, “He has improved by 1,000 percent on that.

“There is so little of that outrage that he [had] because he understood. He understood that every F was costing him a tenth. Yuki knows, and he’s there.”

The prime example of Tsunoda’s anger in 2024 came at the first race of the year, with an intra-team swap order angering Tsunoda to the point where he dive-bombed Ricciardo and accelerated in anger dangerously close to his teammate’s car.

Sarcastically thanking his team over the radio, Ricciardo showed his displeasure with the moment as he said, “What the f*** is wrong? I’ll save it… f***ing helmet.”

Speaking to the UK’s Independent, Tsunoda has said he realised he needed to change his mindset if he was to hold onto a seat in Formula 1.

“My mindset would be to take my stress out on the track and then focus afterward,” he said.

“These days, F1 is more political and has more sponsors. You need to find a balance. You don’t want a driver shouting emotions; the team wants to hear specific feedback.

“I had to change my approach for the future after what happened with Daniel in Bahrain last year.

“Otherwise, I wouldn’t be sticking around in F1. It’s the one area I’ve worked really hard at – and it’s helped change my mindset and be more serious.”

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With Tsunoda carrying out a test in last year’s RB20 after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko explained that this outing hadn’t been critical in deciding upon Tsunoda for the remainder of the F1 2025 season but pointed to how the young driver has become a more rounded competitor.

“Yuki had his highs and lows,” Marko said.

“I remember his two crashes in Mexico [in 2024], for example. He was simply not as stable as he is now.

“Lawson had driven only 11 grands prix and in this situation he could not perform anymore.

“On the other hand, Yuki was – crazy as it sounds – very strong in his fourth season.

“His personality, he is physically much stronger, he seems hugely confident and delivered two great races.

“Why we didn’t wait any longer? Well, we want to win the fifth world championship with Max.

“The car is tricky and not the fastest. It is important then to have a second driver who can support us strategically in races and contribute to the development of the car.”

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