Yuki Tsunoda was knocked out in Q2 in 15th place at Suzuka and said he hadn’t been able to keep his RB21 in the right operating window for his final run.

The Japanese driver is making his debut appearance for Red Bull this weekend and fared a little better than his predecessor Liam Lawson by making it into Q2.

Yuki Tsunoda: It’s difficult to operate Red Bull’s RB21

Tsunoda’s weekend started strongly, slotting in behind Max Verstappen in FP1 in what looked like immediate acclimatisation to his new car after jumping across from the Racing Bulls team.

But, while Verstappen went on to take an unexpected Red Bull pole position in qualifying, Tsunoda wasn’t able to produce similar magic and was knocked out in Q2 in 15th place, even behind the man whose seat he took as Liam Lawson ended up 14th for Racing Bulls.

Tsunoda’s best time in Q2 was 0.498 seconds slower than Verstappen’s, and he explained that he hadn’t been able to keep the car in its optimal run condition for his final flying lap.

“Q1 felt pretty good, I just missed the window, I guess,” he explained to the media in Japan.

“The window that this car can operate [in] is very narrow, and the warm-up… probably most of the things have to be perfect, especially warm-up, and especially Q2 run two, I wasn’t able to do the warm-up I wanted like the previous one.

“So that makes a big difference, something I learned and recognise for the future, but it was a bit too late.”

Evaluating what he could have done better, he said, “Just warm up ideas and… I don’t know. I had a quite big gust in Turn 2 and quite a big moment, which was a bit unexpected. So have to look at what’s happened there.

“But at least I showed a good pace in Q1, and I feel like I’m more confident in the car. I’m sure, in the process, I’m still learning, but yeah, it’s a shame. We didn’t expect this result today.”

Having shown decent pace through the weekend, Tsunoda’s disappointing qualifying appears to be more down to his level of understanding of the car rather than ability – hardly surprising, given Tsunoda had never driven the RB21 until Friday’s practice sessions.

After four years at the sister team, Tsunoda said he feels he’s handling the pressure of his new position well.

“I feel okay in terms of pressure. The last Q2 lap was probably the most pressured time, out of previous sessions,” he said.

“I felt it more last year than this year. This year, my mindset was more to enjoy and feel the car. The positives are I started to understand about the car.

“It’s quite difficult to operate this car properly. It’s quite narrow, more than the VCARB [Racing Bull]. But I feel confident in the car, at least, and I know what to do for the future, I guess.”

Verstappen and Tsunoda went in different directions on setup, with the debutant opting for higher downforce wings on his RB21 after third practice – a move that will give him greater stability but could prove costly in terms of outright speed.

Tsunoda downplayed the impact of the difference, saying that he had stuck with the higher downforce plan out of his own choice, and said he is figuring out how to get the most of the rear end of the RB21.

“Here, it’s always been a bit tricky at slow speed, because, normally, the setup is high speed,” he said.

“High speed felt pretty good. I feel like this car is driving on the edge with the rear. At least for now, I feel pretty okay with the stability. I mean, I would say in terms of the rear sliding, I’m feeling it.

“But, if I spent time, this kind of direction is a setup that I have to drive to perform well in the car. So, at least, I started to recognise it throughout practice but it just wasn’t enough, in the end, to put it all together, I guess.”

More on the Japanese Grand Prix

👉 Villeneuve’s ‘paying the price’ Tsunoda theory after ‘not good enough’ qualy debut

👉 ‘Poop your pants’ – Verstappen on Red Bull’s ‘clear issues’ despite Japan GP pole

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was pleased with Tsunoda’s performance level, saying that the speed has been evident throughout the weekend.

“This morning, they both ran a bit more downforce, and Yuki found it was more to his liking,” he said of the wing differences.

“Certainly, in Q1, he was looking competitive. He was within a tenth of Max and just one place behind. Then, in Q2, he hasn’t actually improved.

“In that last run, I think he was possibly a bit too quick into Turn 1. He had a big moment at Turn 2, and then you’re never going to recover it from there. Up to that point, I think he’s actually done very well.

“So it’s a shame because I think he would have comfortably made the top 10 today, but he can still race well from there tomorrow.”

Tsunoda will start from 14th place on the grid, due to Williams’ Carlos Sainz being given a grid penalty for a blocking incident, and said his goal for race day is to continue to learn how best to exploit the RB21’s potential in a similar way to Verstappen.

“Yeah, I’ll be patient,” he said.

“I was expecting a little bit more today, so that definitely makes a bit of disappointment now. But it’s not impossible. I felt, over the last two days, that if I learn more and am able to sync with the car much more, I know I can extract much more consistently, which is important.

“So it’ll be an interesting race tomorrow, if its raining or whatever, I’ll do my best.”

Read Next: Winners and losers from the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix qualifying