Although Yuki Tsunoda believes he is coping with the Red Bull F1 car when his predecessors struggled, he concedes Max Verstappen’s ability is “incredible”.

After years of wanting, Tsunoda‘s Red Bull dream was realised at the Japanese Grand Prix when he replaced Liam Lawson as Verstappen’s newest team-mate.

Yuki Tsunoda is coping, but Max Verstappen is ‘incredible’

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

But while he went into the weekend proclaiming that he “wouldn’t say” the RB21 was a particularly tricky car having spent two days in the Red Bull simulator, he left Suzuka admitting it was a “lot different”.

The biggest issue he faced as he raced from 14th on the grid to 12th at the chequered flag was tyre preparation.

That he admitted was something he struggled with, “but at least now I know what’s the reason, and I just have to do better.”

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It was a topic he was quizzed on in the build-up to the Bahrain Grand Prix, his second race as a Red Bull driver as he seeks to get the second RB21 off the mark in F1 2025.

“It’s a different approach,” he told the media, including PlanetF1.com. “I feel like VCARB will tell us how to do it, and Red Bull is more like they can adjust it from the out-lap. It’s quite a different approach there and I wouldn’t say which is better or not, to be honest.

“There are a couple of things that feel like VCARB has an easier approach for the driver, more than Red Bull. But I think Max has had that approach for nine years, so he’s just able to naturally do it.

“I probably have a little bit of digging to work out what kind of approach I should take, and it’s an ongoing process, how we can do better as a team to make it a little bit easier.”

Setup if, naturally, the other issue Tsunoda is dealing with amidst speculation the RB21, with its sharp front end is designed with Verstappen’s driving style in mind.

However, the Japanese driver reckons it is actually “incredible” how the four-time World Champion deals with that setup.

“In terms of how I felt in the car, it’s quite still okay,” he said. “It’s too early to just say I’m able to drive comfortably a lot, but I think able to cope with the car balance were those drivers struggle so far.

“In terms of setup, I think actually we went to Max’s side rather than my setup that I thought would be good. So, yeah, surprisingly, I’m able to drive quite well. So I’m happy with it so far.

“The direction we tried in the simulator, which was a bit different from China to focus on calming down the rear, and the setup we concluded in the end I felt was good.

“Also, Max felt pretty positive in the simulator, so in the end, Max started with that direction which I quite liked as well already at Suzuka. I went for a more extreme side in that direction and it just didn’t work out.

“It’s not like the setup that Max used in China. China was a bit more specific because it was more front-end limitation. But Max’s setup helps the rear and I think that setup probably in the simulator I feel definitely the trickiness.

“It’s incredible how he’s able to cope with that kind of setup.”

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