Christian Horner reveals how Yuki Tsunoda plans to escape the Red Bull second-seat curse. Yuki Tsunoda is determined to avoid the same fate as Max Verstappen’s past teammates at Red Bull.

There is no hotter seat in F1 than the one occupied by Yuki Tsunoda at Red Bull. Okay, maybe Lawson’s is even more under pressure, but that’s another story. Being Max Verstappen’s teammate must be frustrating nonetheless. It’s a position where you drive a car built and set up specifically for the driver who beats you every race weekend. However, the Japanese driver doesn’t want to share the fate of his predecessors, and Christian Horner himself has explained his plan.

Not everything went wrong in Canada
Yuki Tsunoda didn’t have a great weekend in Montreal. Penalized ten positions in free practice for overtaking under a red flag, Yuki chose to modify the car and start from the pit lane, finishing in twelfth place after a solid recovery.

This was one of the points Horner focused on during interviews. “I actually think he’s doing a good job. You can see how difficult it is to overtake here. So I think Yuki might have gained some confidence from this race. If he had started from his original qualifying position, he would have scored points.”

Yuki and the history of Red Bull’s second drivers
The Red Bull Team Principal also looked back at the Imola weekend. The Japanese driver’s crash in qualifying there appears to have had consequences in the following Grands Prix as well. “Yuki raced with the same RB21 spec from Imola, and now he’s at Max’s level. I hope he can take something positive from this weekend.” After the impact at the Villeneuve chicane, the second Red Bull car was reverted to earlier spec packages before being updated again during the season.

Finally, Horner described how his driver’s strategy is also aimed at not falling into the same trap as others who’ve occupied that seat before. “I think [Tsunoda] wanted to avoid the mistake made by other drivers who tried to drive with Max’s setup. He’s followed his own path and worked on his own style and needs, and I think we’ve seen progress this weekend.”

The hope for Yuki Tsunoda is clearly to reverse the trend and prove himself worthy of a Red Bull seat. Otherwise, given the team’s past and the presence of a certain Isaac Hadjar in RB, it’s not hard to imagine what the future could hold for car number 22.