F1 | Yuki Tsunoda reveals the key behind Max Verstappen’s dominance at Red Bull. Yuki Tsunoda has revealed what he believes is the real secret behind Max Verstappen’s success at Red Bull.

After bringing his Formula 1 journey with Red Bull to an end, Yuki Tsunoda has revealed what he believes to be the secret behind Max Verstappen’s extraordinary success with the Milton Keynes-based team.

From his very first season at Red Bull, the Dutch driver impressed everyone, from fans to senior team figures, by securing victory in his debut race. Verstappen managed to assert himself against every team-mate he faced, from a highly rated Daniel Ricciardo, who was eventually forced to leave the team, to Yuki Tsunoda himself, who was never quite able to match Max’s level. Speaking to DAZN Japan, Yuki Tsunoda opened up about what lies behind Verstappen’s dominance at Red Bull.

The Verstappen–Lambiase connection

A car built entirely around his characteristics, updates that follow only his instructions and arrive exclusively on car number one? According to Yuki Tsunoda, none of this is true. For the Japanese driver, the real key to Verstappen’s success lies in the relationship he has with his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, who has been working alongside him since 2016.

Lambiase is the only person capable of communicating in the most effective way with the four-time world champion in any situation, even when Verstappen becomes frustrated and starts complaining over the radio about the difficulties he is experiencing behind the wheel.

“Gianpiero is honestly one of the most extraordinary engineers I have ever been able to work with,” Yuki Tsunoda said. “His ideas are incredible.”

“He also looks at my car, but obviously when Max is struggling the priority is on him.” Yuki Tsunoda also had positive words for his own group of engineers: “My team is very competent, but simply less experienced than Gianpiero; sometimes we needed his help, but we couldn’t always ask for it.”

Yuki Tsunoda also revealed that he listened to the full radio communications between Max Verstappen and Gianpiero Lambiase during the FP1 session in Abu Dhabi, when his car was handed over to Lindblad. “The way they communicated during the session is completely different from what I was used to. You can hear how everything works efficiently. I would like to reach that level of communication with my engineer. If you first have to check something with someone else, you are automatically one step behind the competition.”