It was predictable, but the Japanese GP confirmed it: Yuki Tsunoda hasn’t solved Red Bull’s long-standing problem with their second driver. After a small mistake in qualifying that forced him to start fourteenth, the home hero went no further than twelfth in the race.
Red Bull decided to demote Liam Lawson after just two races, replacing him with Yuki Tsunoda for his home Grand Prix. While the situation seemed to improve slightly, the core issue remained unchanged: after three rounds, Red Bull has scored 61 points in the standings—all thanks to Max Verstappen.
In today’s grid, there’s no room for a gap of over three tenths from your teammate or for simple qualifying mistakes. Yuki Tsunoda has plenty of work to do in the coming races to avoid further shake-ups, especially with Hadjar continuing to prove his strong start with Racing Bulls, finishing eighth at Suzuka.
After the race, Yuki Tsunoda commented: “Mixed feelings. Obviously not the result I wanted. I was hoping to finish in the points this weekend. I think I just need to do better in qualifying. The pace was there in the race, but I was stuck in traffic.”
“It was very frustrating, but I learned a lot. I feel like I learned more in these 53 laps than I did over the previous days. So that’s still a positive. I’m fired up for the next race, but at the same time, this was my home Grand Prix. There’s only one a year, so that makes it bittersweet.”
As difficult as it is to read his emotions, Yuki Tsunoda seemed almost dazed by his debut in the Red Bull. Looking ahead to Bahrain, he said: “I need to reset. I know it’ll feel different from the first free practices in terms of confidence with the car. I think it’ll naturally go better, now that I know the car more. I’m pumped for the next race, like I said, but I need to do better in qualifying.”
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