The 2025 Formula 1 campaign for Yuki Tsunoda with Red Bull has been a relentless challenge, marked by missed opportunities, mechanical woes, and a points draught that stretches back to May.
Yet, despite these setbacks, the Japanese driver remains defiantly optimistic and focused on the progress he’s making. He’s finding silver linings in performances that, statistically, tell a grim story.
A Season of Frustration for Yuki Tsunoda
Tsunoda’s recent outing at the Hungarian Grand Prix was an unimaginative end to the first half of his season at Red Bull. He qualified 16th and dropped a place during the race to finish P17. After narrowly missing out on Q2 by just a tenth of a second, his race was then compromised early on with damage that occurred during the race.
“Obviously, as a team, we struggled this weekend,” Yuki Tsunoda admitted in an interview, referring to Max Verstappen’s qualification and race struggles at the Hungaroring. “Even though I was one tenth behind, I couldn’t go to Q2. So, on paper, it doesn’t look good.”
Unfortunately, his season at Red Bull has been a series of woes. Since being promoted, Tsunoda has only been able to finish in the top 10 on three occasions: P9 in Bahrain, P10 in Miami, and P10 in Imola.
However, Tsunoda isn’t dwelling on these poor results. Instead, he is looking forward, finding a silver lining, and trusting the team at Red Bull.
Progress Amid the Struggles
In spite of the challenges, Tsunoda believes he is evolving as a driver with the team at Red Bull. The 25-year-old racer has found encouragement in his qualifying performances, particularly how close he is getting to his teammate Max Verstappen.
“After I introduced the package much closer to Max [Verstappen], if you see on the paper – on the short runs especially – it’s quite clear that I’m closing the gap to Max,” Tsunoda explained.
Last weekend’s qualifying showed this as Verstappen’s quickest time in Q1 was only 0.163s quicker than Tsunoda’s. In previous qualifying results, this gap was much larger with over half a second difference between the drivers at Spa and Silverstone.
Yuki Tsunoda Reveals Why He’s Not Ready to Match Verstappen’s Level Just Yet
Tsunoda claimed this gap in qualifying “was probably one of the closest gaps in the last four years”. He went on to add, “I think the team was proud of [it], and I think I can be proud of that. So, I’ll just keep what I’m doing”.
Tsunoda remains upbeat about the team’s development trajectory, praising Red Bull’s upgrades. “I think in terms of the package Red Bull [has brought] so far, it’s impressively good. The amount of stuff they’ve done in the first half of the season … is incredible. So I hope we can continue with that”.
The summer break offers the perfect chance for Red Bull to build upon this progress and support Tsunoda’s development. Hopefully, we can expect to see further improvements for Tsunoda in the second half of the season.
While the standings may not reflect his efforts, Tsunoda’s determination and incremental improvements suggest that better results could be on the horizon. Looking beyond the break, their focus remains on maintaining this momentum. For now, Tsunoda’s optimism will certainly help keep heads high in the Red Bull garage.
