What Yuki Tsunoda has now been told about his Red Bull future after entering the final year of his F1 contract

Yuki Tsunoda would have hoped that his first six races for Red Bull would have been more positive than his current situation.

Red Bull have been solely relying on Max Verstappen for some time, with Sergio Perez’s decline becoming an issue for Christian Horner last season.

Perez was released halfway through his Red Bull contract, and Liam Lawson lasted just two races as his replacement before Yuki Tsunoda was called up.

Tsunoda started the campaign brilliantly at Racing Bulls and it appeared as though his latest rejection from Red Bull had spurred him on to reach another level.

Helmut Marko praised Tsunoda’s work during the off-season, but his promotion has unsurprisingly coincided with a drop in performance.

The RB21 has a far smaller operating window than Racing Bulls’ 2025 F1 car, and without a pre-season to get up to speed, Tsunoda is learning on the job.

However, Horner has ruled out Red Bull challenging for the constructors’ championship because Tsunoda is so far away from Verstappen.

Tsunoda is in the final year of his Red Bull contract but Horner and Marko have never shied away from making a change to their driver line-up mid-season if required.

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda’s life outside F1 from height to parents

What Yuki Tsunoda has been told about his Red Bull future

Journalist Matt Majendie is spending the 2025 F1 season embedded within the Red Bull team and was asked on The Race F1 Podcast about his time with the Anglo-Austrian outfit.

Majendie was questioned about what Red Bull are doing behind the scenes to help Tsunoda and he explained: “He looks very relaxed like he genuinely feels like there isn’t the pressure there.

“I think he’s been told you’ve got the season. That’s the impression I get, you’ve got the season, just chill out. That’s the best sort of advice they can give him.

“But if you think about how complex a car this is to deal with, he’s playing ridiculous catch up already by coming in a few races in, but then the complexity of this car to get the grips with without having properly tested it.

“I know he’s had some time on track now, but he still hasn’t had loads and loads of laps in that car.

“But he does know, he does have to deliver points. That’s why he’s been brought in, isn’t it?

“He’s got he’s got to deliver points and when that doesn’t happen then that becomes onerous and you see these Red Bull drivers can crumble under that pressure of Max of that pressure not performing.”

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Red Bull impressed with Tsunoda’s feedback and attitude behind the scenes this season

Majendie was then asked if Red Bull think Tsunoda might finally be the second driver that works alongside Verstappen and said: “I do think it’ll work with him. There’s so much positivity around the team towards him in terms of what he gives.

“He’s much better in the technical stuff than I think they anticipated. The feedback he gives is actually very thoughtful and very detailed, not saying stuff for the sake of it.

“There’s a bit more than I think I expected from him as a driver and that’s gone down very well with his engineers and the wider team.

“But the thing is, nothing’s quite clicked yet and you feel this desperate push from the team in a positive way, willing him to have a good result and he needs to have one because you feel the pressure and you feel that spotlight if there’s that disparity between you and your teammate.

“He has to be getting in the points, he has to be aiding Max’s chances doesn’t he, by being higher up the grid so they can have split strategies, etc which they couldn’t really do in Monaco and at some other races.”

Christian Horner identifies Yuki Tsunoda’s ‘real problem’ at Red Bull

Tsunoda has yet to finish in the top eight of a Grand Prix since arriving at Red Bull, a feat both Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson have achieved this year at Racing Bulls.

Hadjar has been suggested as a replacement for Tsunoda in 2026 and while the Japanese driver doesn’t appear to be in any immediate danger, he’ll know the rookie is turning heads in the paddock.

Horner has identified the ‘real problem’ Tsunoda is facing at Red Bull and it’s an area he’ll need to improve quickly if he’s going to support Verstappen as expected.

The question is whether Tsunoda or Lawson, should ever have been in the second Red Bull car to begin with.

David Croft thinks Red Bull should have signed Carlos Sainz instead but only time will tell whether that was an error or not.