By James Broughton, April 11, 2025
Yuki Tsunoda was parachuted into the Red Bull squad just two races into the 2025 Grand Prix season. Red Bull hit the panic button after realizing Liam “no friends” Lawson was struggling badly with the unique demands of the RB21. And so, Tsunoda made the switch from Racing Bulls to Red Bull, making his debut at his home race in Japan.
Why Tsunoda was overlooked in the first place remains a mystery. Racing Bulls is owned by Red Bull Racing and functions as a B-squad backup team. Beyond the data-driven approach, common sense and instinct should have made it clear that Tsunoda was the natural replacement for Sergio Perez. Instead, Red Bull went with “no friends” Lawson — and the rest is history.
In the run-up to his home race debut for Red Bull Racing, Yuki Tsunoda expressed a strong desire to reach the podium. But the dream quickly turned into a formal nightmare. Tsunoda was outqualified by “no friends” Lawson and generally struggled to match Verstappen’s pace. While Verstappen went on to win the Japanese Grand Prix, Tsunoda limped home in 12th, exposing the stark contrast in performance despite being in the same machinery.
Ahead of the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix, Tsunoda reflected on his Red Bull debut. During a media interview, he opened up and shared his thoughts:
“In terms of how I felt in the car, it’s quite still okay. It’s too early to just say I’m able to drive comfortably a lot, but I think able to cope with the car balance were those drivers struggle so far.”
“In terms of setup, I think actually we went to Max’s side rather than my setup that I thought would be good. So, yeah, surprisingly, I’m able to drive quite well. So I’m happy with it so far.”
“The direction we tried in the simulator, which was a bit different from China to focus on calming down the rear, and the setup we concluded in the end I felt was good.”
“Also, Max felt pretty positive in the simulator, so in the end, Max started with that direction which I quite liked as well already at Suzuka. I went for a more extreme side in that direction and it just didn’t work out.”
“It’s not like the setup that Max used in China. China was a bit more specific because it was more front-end limitation. But Max’s setup helps the rear and I think that setup probably in the simulator I feel definitely the trickiness.”
It’s incredible how he’s able to cope with that kind of setup.”
