Yuki Tsunoda admits he is still not able to drive ‘completely relaxed’ since joining Red Bull, which is causing him to struggle as the Japanese driver lacks an ‘important’ feel.
The 24-year-old is now three rounds into his time at Red Bull after Tsunoda stepped up from Racing Bulls to replace Liam Lawson. Team bosses in Milton Keynes had snubbed Tsunoda in December to promote the Kiwi to replace Sergio Perez, but they quickly felt it was a mistake.
Lawson spent just the first two rounds of the 2025 F1 season at Red Bull before he swapped seats with Tsunoda. Yet it took the Kanagawa native the same amount of time to register his first points in the RB21 and get into Q3, both feats that the New Zealander failed to achieve.
Yuki Tsunoda ‘still’ cannot feel his tyre temperatures change during qualifying at Red Bull like Max Verstappen
Tsunoda earned his first points for Red Bull in Bahrain when he finished the Grand Prix in P9, having also qualified in P10. But a first-lap collision with Pierre Gasly at the Saudi Arabian GP meant Tsunoda would not add to his tally. He retired due to the damage sustained at Turn 4.
Former Red Bull prospect Jaime Alguersuari has urged Tsunoda to ‘wake up’ after seeing his qualifying deficit to teammate Max Verstappen in Saudi Arabia, as well. The Japanese driver finished Q3 in eighth place while the Dutchman scored pole with a lap 0.910 seconds faster.
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| QUALIFYING SESSION | YUKI TSUNODA | MAX VERSTAPPEN |
| Japanese Grand Prix | 1:28.000 | 1:27.502 |
| Bahrain Grand Prix | 1:31.303 | 1:29.841 |
| Saudi Arabian Grand Prix | 1:28.204 | 1:27.294 |
Tsunoda gave Verstappen a tow in Q3 in Saudi Arabia to help his teammate beat McLaren’s Oscar Piastri to pole. But qualifying was a challenge for Tsunoda as he ‘still’ cannot feel the temperatures in his Pirelli tyres cooling near the same levels Verstappen can in his Red Bull.
“Max senses more things in the car than I do, like the temperature of the tyres when you leave the garage,” Tsunoda said, via quotes by Motorsport.com. “When the temperatures drop from Q1 to Q3, Max adapts.
“When the temperature drops, he knows how to adapt the warm-up lap, he knows how to warm up the tyres in each corner, maybe increasing the pace or things like that. I personally didn’t feel it that way.
“I couldn’t feel what I felt with the Racing Bulls. I still can’t feel it with this car, maybe just because I’m not driving completely relaxed. I think those details are really important with these regulations, which make the tyres very sensitive.”
Yuki Tsunoda is 0.762s slower than Max Verstappen in qualifying compared to Liam Lawson’s 0.913s deficit
Tsunoda has been consistently off Verstappen’s qualifying speed since joining Red Bull from his home event at the Japanese Grand Prix. He was 0.498s slower than the four-time drivers’ champion during Q2 at Suzuka, as Tsunoda even only qualified P15 on his debut for Red Bull.
While Tsunoda would reach Q3 in Bahrain, he also only managed P10 after setting a lap time 0.880s slower than Verstappen in the top-10 shootout. Add in his 0.910s deficit last time out in Saudi Arabia and his average deficit to Red Bull’s No1 driver in qualifying has been 0.762s.
Lawson also struggled in qualifying amid his brief stint at Red Bull with an average deficit to Verstappen of 0.913s, having been 1.076s and 0.750s slower in Q1 (the sessions in which he was eliminated) in Australia and China, as well as 0.813s shy in Sprint Qualifying in Shanghai.
