Yuki Tsunoda could only qualify P15 on his debut for Red Bull at the Japanese Grand Prix, with Liam Lawson even out-pacing the home hero on his return to Racing Bulls.
Suzuka saw a Red Bull racer run to the top of the timesheets on Saturday as Max Verstappen scored his first pole position of the 2025 F1 season. The Dutchman stunned McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to take P1 by just 0.012 and 0.044 seconds with a late hurrah.
But Tsunoda failed to match Verstappen’s speed in qualifying for the Japanese GP following his promotion to Red Bull to replace Lawson. The Milton Keynes squad have a new line-up at Suzuka after demoting Lawson back to Racing Bulls two rounds after Red Bull promoted him.
Racing Bulls having a nicer car to drive compared to Red Bull’s tricky RB21 helped Lawson to set the 14th-fastest time in qualifying. But the Kiwi will start the Japanese GP from P13, with Tsunoda inheriting P14, after Carlos Sainz received a three-place grid penalty over impeding.
Yuki Tsunoda ‘didn’t expect’ a Q2 exit on Red Bull debut with his Japanese GP practice pace
Tsunoda has now replaced Lawson at Red Bull as team principal Christian Horner believes he can help them to improve the tricky RB21 and also help their F1 constructors’ championship hopes. Red Bull already trail McLaren by 42 points, after Lawson failed to earn a single point.
Yet despite Verstappen taking pole for the Japanese GP, Tsunoda faces a tough job to score what would be his first points of this season at Suzuka after only qualifying P15 on his debut for Red Bull. Even Lawson out-qualified Tsunoda with the Racing Bulls pilot in P14 by 0.094s.
READ MORE: Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda’s life outside F1 from height to parents
Kanagawa native Tsunoda admits he ‘did not expect’ his first qualifying session with Red Bull would finish in Q2 after feeling confident with his pace from practice at the Japanese GP. He especially felt strong in FP3, when Tsunoda was P9 and only 0.288s from Verstappen in P5.
“Surprisingly, I think I feel OK in terms of pressure,” Tsunoda told Sky Sports F1 (5/4, 08:29). “The last Q2 lap was probably the most pressured time.
“I had the pace from FP3, so I didn’t expect it to be like this, how I ended up like that today. So, it’s a shame. But at least the positive is that I’m starting to understand the car. It’s quite difficult to operate this car properly, it’s quite narrow [compared to] the Racing Bulls’ car.”
Yuki Tsunoda has faced a sharp wakeup call with Red Bull’s car at the Japanese GP
The Japanese GP weekend has so far delivered a sharp wakeup call for Tsunoda following his promotion from Racing Bulls to replace Lawson at Red Bull. He and the team will hope to see some more progress in the race, with Verstappen showing what pace the RB21 can offer.
While Red Bull grew frustrated with Lawson struggling to adapt to the RB21 due to its sharp front end and loose rear, Tsunoda did not feel the RB21 was particularly ‘difficult’ to drive in their simulator. He spent two days at their Milton Keynes factory ahead of heading to Japan.
Yet practice immediately showed him the differences between a simulator and a real circuit. Tsunoda instantly felt the RB21’s ‘sensitivity’ at Suzuka during practice and could not get on top of the car in time for qualifying when he used higher downforce levels than Verstappen.
Red Bull fitted a higher downforce setting on Tsunoda’s rear wing to carry into qualifying and the Japanese GP. But he had a wobble out of the last chicane and a big snap in Turn 2 to ruin the home hero’s crucial final push lap in Q2 before it had truly started and saw him bow out.
