Christian Horner has “promised” Yuki Tsunoda that Red Bull will not enforce team orders to favour Max Verstappen is “some situations” during the F1 2025 season.

That is the claim of the new signing as he prepares to make his Red Bull at this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

Red Bull team orders: Will Yuki Tsunoda be allowed to beat Max Verstappen?

Tsunoda has been promoted to Red Bull after just two races of F1 2025 in light of Liam Lawson’s struggles with the step up from the Racing Bulls (previously AlphaTauri) junior team.

The Japanese driver becomes Verstappen’s third different team-mate in the space of four races, stretching back to Sergio Perez’s last appearance for Red Bull at the 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Verstappen has long established himself as the lead driver at Red Bull, cementing his status as one of the greatest drivers in F1 history by storming to four consecutive World Championships since 2021.

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Horner, the long-serving team principal, was transparent about Red Bull’s preferential treatment towards Verstappen following the signing of Lawson last December, describing the Dutchman as “the most valuable asset in Formula 1.”

Horner said at the time: “If you [as his team-mate] can get close to him, fantastic. But the reality is the expectation is for Max to win.”

Tsunoda has acknowledged that Verstappen is the clear number-one driver at Red Bull, with his role to get “as close to Max as possible” from the Japanese Grand Prix.

Yet he has revealed that Horner has reassured him that he will be allowed to stay ahead of the World Champion in certain scenarios, raising hopes that Tsunoda could become the first Japanese driver to win in F1.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live: “In the end Red Bull Racing are focused on Max scoring a Drivers’ Championship.

“He has proven himself to have good potential to be a world champion – even though Red Bull seems to be struggling a little now.

“Performance-wise, [Horner] wants me to be as close to Max as possible.

“In some races I can help with the strategy but he also promised me in some situations that if I’m able to be in front of Max that he wouldn’t necessarily ask me to swap positions and make Max win.”

Tsunoda’s comments come after Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko revealed that the 24-year-old has made a good first impression in the team’s simulator, dispelling concerns that his feedback – describing the sensation of driving the car to engineers to inform setup and development choices – is not up to scratch.

Marko said: “Yuki is in his fifth year and experience in such difficult conditions is an enormous factor.

“Yuki has repeatedly emphasised that he’s actually the right man for Red Bull Racing. We gave him two or three simulator sessions and those were very good.

“Also his technical feedback, something he had been criticised for in the past, was very solid.”

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Marko went on to describe the transformation in Tsunoda that convinced Red Bull to finally take a chance on him, just months after overlooking him for Lawson despite the Japanese driver’s greater experience.

He said: “Yuki had his highs and lows. 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 [before this season] 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 [in 2024].

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

“While Lawson was dealing with the downward spiral, Yuki is in his fifth year and he is making a good impression overall.

“We believe he can deal with this.”

As exclusively revealed by PlanetF1.com last week, Red Bull are to bring back their special white livery for the Japanese Grand Prix in a tribute to engine suppliers Honda.

F1 2025 marks the last season of Red Bull’s highly successful relationship with Honda, who will join forces with the Aston Martin team next season as Red Bull’s new Powertrains division works alongside US giants Ford.

The so-called ‘white bull’ livery previously appeared at the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix.

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