By Joe Man
Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull Career: A Steady Start Amid the Chaos…
Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull career is only a few weeks old, but it’s already had its ups and downs. Overall, Yuki has performed well since stepping in for the brutally axed Liam Lawson. So far, he’s secured a 12th-place finish at his home Grand Prix in Japan and scored points with a solid 9th-place result last time out in Bahrain. Considering the car’s performance, that’s a respectable effort. The Red Bull car was shockingly poor in Bahrain, with even Max Verstappen only managing 6th.
Tsunoda appears calm and collected, working well with the team. In many ways, the car not being particularly competitive right now actually benefits him. If Max were on pole and Yuki stuck in the midfield, the contrast would be far more glaring for the Japanese driver.
His crash during second practice in Saudi Arabia is a concern, as it was a relatively simple mistake, but he’ll likely be given time to iron out these errors. With so much noise surrounding Red Bull’s management and Verstappen’s future, Tsunoda has the rare opportunity to quietly go about his business and hopefully build confidence for when the RB21 improves.
The real danger for Yuki lies in a string of poor results. We’ve seen in the past—whether it was Gasly, Albon, or Perez—that promising starts can unravel quickly when things begin to slide.
In that sense, it’s actually been good that Tsunoda has simply looked steady. A great result followed by a string of terrible ones would raise more red flags. If he can gradually climb the timing charts and become a regular in Q3, it will be considered a strong start.
Verstappen’s current struggles also raise an interesting question: has Red Bull made the car slightly easier to drive for their second driver and inadvertently compromised Max’s preferred setup? The car again looks unstable in Jeddah, with Max visibly fighting it through corners that McLaren is handling with ease.
Given the car’s instability and his practice crash, it will be tough for Yuki to find confidence on the fastest street circuit on the calendar. Jeddah demands supreme confidence in the car—something neither Red Bull driver currently seems to have. While Max might find a way to adapt, this could be a challenging weekend for Yuki. Overtaking is difficult here, so qualifying will be crucial.
Tsunoda will likely be hoping to get through the weekend with a steady result and look ahead to the upcoming break. Since joining the team, he was immediately thrown into the chaos of his home Grand Prix, followed by the start of a triple-header. The break will give him time to reflect on what’s worked, what hasn’t, and give the team a chance to make adjustments or bring in updates ahead of Miami.
The positive takeaway is that his results so far have been strong enough to quiet the rumor mill—at least for now—which should help Yuki feel more secure in the team. He surely has until the end of the season to prove he’s worth keeping for 2026.
That said, as we all know, things can change very quickly at Red Bull!
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