Yuki Tsunoda has been struggling to make an impact with Red Bull this year. The Austrian giants removed Liam Lawson from the hot seat and replaced him with the Japanese driver, who has been shining at their second team for the last few years.
Tsunoda’s best finish before the Belgian Grand Prix was P9 in Bahrain, but he finished out of the top 10 since then, too. Now, before the much-anticipated race at Spa, Tsunoda made a bold gamble that has made waves recently.
Laurent Mekies reveals Red Bull’s bold move for Yuki Tsunoda’s car
The Red Bull didn’t deliver Tsunoda with major upgrades until the last minute. He managed to finish P7 in qualifying ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix. What’s even more surprising is that Tsunoda failed to finish inside the top 10 in the sprint qualifying and sprint race.
Red Bull had the option to keep their only spare of the car’s floor upgrade for Max Verstappen. But the team fixed an upgraded floor to Tsunoda’s car, which they had no plans for.
YUKI TSUNODA’S BEST QUALIFYING SESSION IN A RED BULL‼️
The floor upgrades on Yuki’s car helped him qualify P7 on the grid 🏁 pic.twitter.com/XBp3cLcyUd
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) July 26, 2025
New team principal Laurent Mekies said during an interview with F1 TV, “For Yuki, it was a very good step forward through the weekend. It’s good to see him in Q3. For sure, he progressed very well through the sessions. Finishing there, I’m sure, will give him a good boost in confidence.”
“We upgraded his car just before qualifying, as we are always pushing to the edge on our car parts quantity. We decided to take the risk to upgrade his car — that’s why you may have seen we were nearly a bit late to go out in qualifying — but it was worth the effort from everyone. Certainly, it’s supporting his performance to get to a very good level,” Mekies added.
The Japanese driver certainly looked better and more comfortable with his inconsistent RB21 car. This would be his best qualifying result for Red Bull so far, one that he would be aiming to improve on during the race.
Pressure mounts on Tsunoda at the Belgian Grand Prix
The young driver has received messages from several notable Formula 1 personalities. But Honda Racing Corporation’s boss Koji Watanabe recently mentioned that there was no plan to replace Tsunoda at this stage.
Honda Boss Sends Clear Message on Yuki Tsunoda’s Future Amid Red Bull Exit Rumours
It is no secret that Red Bull is ruthless when it comes to their driver decisions. That’s the message they sent the world when they sent Liam Lawson packing just two races into the season.
With that said, it looks like he has the chance to prove himself, and it will last until the end of the season. Red Bull has been pretty unfortunate with their second driver decisions in the last few years, and they are on a desperate hunt to find a suitable teammate for the aggressive and dominant Verstappen.
