The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix marks Yuki Tsunoda’s 3rd race with Red Bull Racing. While his predecessors have struggled to get along with the 2nd Red Bull car, Yuki Tsunoda has been showing signs of progress. However, Jeddah was a setback for the Japanese driver.
During the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Tsunoda qualified 8th but was not able to convert that into points after crashing out on the first lap of the race. This was his second crash during the weekend, as he had crashed earlier in FP2 earlier.
Christian Horner had high hopes for Yuki Tsunoda in Jeddah
After the race in Jeddah, Christian Horner spoke to the media, where he gave his thoughts on Yuki’s performance.
“It was a shame for Yuki,” Horner told the media.
“His Q2 time [of a 1:27.990], if he had repeated that in Q3, it would have put him sixth on the grid.”
“It was a racing incident with Pierre; he was up against the wall, and they went into the stewards’ meeting, and both drivers accepted it was a racing incident. “
“So it was annoying for him, because he would have been right in the battle for decent points.”
A costly moment for Yuki Tsunoda in FP2 😱#F1 #SaudiArabianGP pic.twitter.com/ofXpR5gG9q
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 18, 2025
During Tsunoda’s Q3 lap time, he made a few mistakes that made him 2 tenths slower than his Q2 time. As Horner mentioned, he had the potential to be in the top 5. And then later on during the race, Tsunoda got tangled with his former teammate and good friend, Pierre Gasly, and they both ended up against the wall. While Gasly was out of the race immediately, Yuki was able to nurse the car back in the pits, where they decided to retire the car.
Although Red Bull’s pace has not been consistent this season, there is no doubt that RB21 was quick around the streets of Jeddah. We saw Verstappen take pole position on Saturday. He could have won the race if not for that first lap incident with Oscar Piastri, which handed him a 5-second penalty. So Tsunoda could have delivered a decent result this weekend if he had kept the car safe through that first lap.
Despite the unfortunate result in Jeddah, there is no doubt that Tsunoda is making progress with the RB21 every week.
What makes the RB20 so difficult to drive?
First of all, it’s not just the RB21. Even the car’s predecessor, the RB20, was a challenging car to drive. Last year, we saw Sergio Perez struggle a lot with maneuvering the RB20 throughout the season. Although Verstappen won his 4th title with that car, he found it difficult to drive during the second half of the season. This even allowed McLaren and Ferrari to get past Red Bull in the Constructors’ Standings.
Last year, Red Bull admitted that it had taken the wrong path in the development of cars, which made them quick but also difficult to drive. This just means that there is a very small window of performance in the car. Verstappen, being the exceptional talent that he is, is able to adjust his driving style to meet the car’s performance window. But he is having trouble with certain circuits, such as Bahrain, this year.
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So this year, Liam Lawson was simply not able to find that window of performance. Red Bull believes that he needed more experience to find that window and that having him continue with the RB21 would not have been good for his confidence as a racing driver. Hence, they brought in Yuki Tsunoda, who already has 4 years of experience with the Red Bull sister team and can help with the development of the car.
While Tsunoda is still not at Verstappen’s level, he has been making progress with every race. Do you think Red Bull can fix the issues with the car to bring back double podiums for the team? Post your thoughts in the comments section below.
