Red Bull’s car is a tough nut to crack for any other driver except Max Verstappen, who has clinched three titles with the car of the same era. Compared to him, his teammates haven’t fared well, with Red Bull axing Sergio Perez and Liam Lawson in quick succession.
It’s believed that the car handling is tough, and even Verstappen admits it, and wants Red Bull to solve it. Meanwhile, the Milton Keynes-based outfit have promoted Yuki Tsunoda with the hope that his good form and decent amount of experience would help in dealing with the situation.
Despite the known issues with the car, Tsunoda was already ready to replace Lawson and reasoned that the RB21 is at least faster than the car Racing Bulls provided him. Now, with Tsunoda preparing with the RB21 on a simulator ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, he has claimed that the car isn’t that tough to drive.
“On the simulator, I did not find it such a challenging car. Of course, it behaves differently in certain areas, but that did not feel very strange,” said Tsunoda.
With Red Bull feeling the heat of replacing Lawson without giving the ‘fair number of chances’, Tsunoda has the advantage of getting to drive the RB21 till the end of the season. At least that’s what Red Bull chief Helmut Marko has promised.
ready for the challenge ahead
挑戦への覚悟はできている pic.twitter.com/T7pyPSi26R
— 角田裕毅/Yuki Tsunoda (@yukitsunoda07) March 27, 2025
Tsunoda’s primary objective would be to keep his results around Verstappen, so that Red Bull can keep contesting for both championships. Achieving that is a hard task itself, as all the teammates of Verstappen, except Daniel Ricciardo, have failed to do it.
But Tsunoda has a plan. “I just want to make it a car that is different from Verstappen’s, so that I can slowly understand it better,” he added.
For Tsunoda, his first race in Red Bull is special as it’s his home race next weekend. Tsunoda would have always dreamed of racing for Red Bull at his home race since he joined their stable when he was 19. Now, the Japanese driver will hope to achieve some of his goals.
Tsunoda’s eye on the podium
Suzuka is obviously the one track that Tsunoda knows the most. By his own admission, “it’s the track that I most drove in my single-seater career.”
With his promotion to Red Bull coming at the right time, Tsunoda is excited and has set a benchmark: “I don’t want to set my expectations too high, but of course I want to be on the podium at the Japanese GP.”
However, it is pertinent to note that the stars did not align for Tsunoda at the right time just due to fate. In this entire process, Honda has supported him and has even provided a handsome compensation to Red Bull for the much-needed career push.
That said, if Tsunoda can prove himself at Red Bull, he may not even need the support of Honda to cement his position within the team.
