Yuki Tsunoda sounded like Max Verstappen in transformed radio messages before his Red Bull debut

Yuki Tsunoda will make his long-anticipated debut with Red Bull at the Japanese Grand Prix, after the team decided to axe Liam Lawson.

The Japanese driver was initially overlooked for Lawson, after Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko felt Tsunoda ‘lacked’ the mental capacity to go up against Max Vestappen in the same team.

Verstappen is one of the toughest teammates in F1, with Tsunoda set to be his sixth since he joined Red Bull in 2016. Former teammate Alex Albon once highlighted the ‘eye-wateringly sharp’ car characteristics that Verstappen demands, which often makes it hard to compete against him.

Red Bull has outlined the minimum they expect from Tsunoda at all times, with the team banking on his four years of experience to improve their current form.

The decision to swap Lawson and Tsunoda was an awkward one for senior management within the team, given they felt the former was the right man to replace Sergio Perez at the end of last year.

Discussing what has changed between now and the winter break on The F1 Show podcast for Sky Sports, Bernie Collins believes there is one thing that Tsunoda has done to convince Red Bull management he is the better option for the long term.

Bernie Collins notices Yuki Tsunoda is a lot ‘calmer’ on team radio

Tsunoda has always been known as a ‘hot head’ in F1 because of his frantic team radio messages, often depicting him angry or frustrated with a situation.

He has defied the team on previous occasions, which is what put Red Bull off promoting him in the first place. F1 drivers will naturally come across more aggressive because of the intense pressure they are under, but Collins believes Tsunoda has addressed this main weakness in recent races.

“Just listening to the radio comms, there has been big progression from when he started in F1 to now. He’s a lot calmer, better feedback, just little bursts of rage but he’s not a real emotional guy,” said Collins.

“That was one of the reasons that was holding Red Bull back, that this emotional guy was going to lash out and to finish you need to finish the races to score points.”

The performance gulf between Max Verstappen’s teammates over the years

The gulf in performance between Verstappen and his teammates based on pure race pace is staggering, with only Perez getting to within 10 seconds in 2022.

Albon started off well in 2019, but his form dropped dramatically in their second season together in 2020 leading to him being replaced by Perez.

The RB21 is known for being a tough car to drive and effectively built around Verstappen, as he is Red Bull’s lead driver.

Tsunoda will need to get on top of the car characteristics if he has any chance of being close to the Dutchman, with Suzuka to be a key acid test.