Three races and two drivers in, Red Bull’s second RB21 has yet to score a single point but Christian Horner is adamant there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Having made the call to replace Liam Lawson with Yuki Tsunoda after just two races, Red Bull at least got both cars out of Q1 in the Japanese driver’s Red Bull debut.

Yuki Tsunoda moved up two places, Liam Lawson moved down four

Tsunoda, having finished inside the top ten in two of the three practice sessions for the Japanese Grand Prix, qualified his RB21 in 15th place at the Suzuka circuit before being promoted to 14th on the grid when Carlos Sainz was penalised.

A small mistake on his final lap in Q2 meant he finished half a second down on Max Verstappen, but his deficit was still less than Lawson had managed in any of his three qualifying sessions.

Helmut Marko, of course, noted that mistake, telling Motorsport.com: “It was just unlucky that in Qualifying 2 he had this mistake. But otherwise it was fine.”

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Onto the race, Tsunoda made up two places – both on former Red Bull drivers.

He overtook Lawson on the opening lap and later got the jump on Alpine’s Pierre Gasly to move up to 12th place.

But in a race that saw only 15 passes on the track, he was tied in making up the second most positions with Jack Doohan winning that one as he made up four places.

It, however, still wasn’t enough to put Tsunoda into the points with Red Bull’s second RB21 still point-less three races into the F1 2025 season.

“I think Yuki, he settled into the team, he’s given very good feedback,” said team principal Horner.

“I think unfortunately for him, his FP1 was very strong, FP3 was fine, Q1, he was only a 10th away from Max. Q2, he made a mistake. He was 15km quicker than he’s ever been into Turn One, had a moment, and then you’re chasing the lap the rest of the way.

“And so qualifying 14th dictated his race.

“I mean, he made an overtake, had an undercut on Pierre Gasly, and then spent the rest of the afternoon looking at Fernando Alonso’s rear wing in a race where I can’t remember seeing any overtakes.

“I think that had he qualified for higher, he would have finished naturally higher.

“He’s given good feedback, and I think that now he’s finding his feet in the team, we’ll see over the next few races that performance will step forward.”

Max Verstappen, meanwhile, clinched the victory, his first of the season to move to within one point of Lando Norris in the fight for the Drivers’ Championship title.

As for Lawson, the New Zealander was the race’s biggest faller as he went from 13th on the grid to 17th at the chequered flag.

Horner reckons he just needs a moment to re-establish himself and his confidence.

“We’ve spoken throughout the weekend,” Horner said of the recently demoted driver. “Saw him on the grid, saw him last night at the barbecue.

“He just needs a bit of time and he will find his feet.”

His team-mate Isack Hadjar his first points of the campaign with a P8 result.

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