Horner: "Tsunoda has brought a positive energy to Red Bull"
Reflecting on Tsunoda's first four races with Red Bull, team boss Christian Horner has revealed that the Japanese driver is currently losing performance compared to the four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen in every area.
After only two races into the season, Yuki Tsunoda replaced Liam Lawson at Red Bull in a swap deal from the Japanese Grand Prix onwards, partnering defending four-time world champion Max Verstappen for the remainder of the 2025 season.
Honda has been reported to have offered the team €10 million to have Tsunoda promoted in time for their home Grand Prix. The Japanese driver qualified fourteenth and finished twelfth on debut, as teammate Verstappen won the race.
The following race in Bahrain saw Tsunoda take his first points for Red Bull with a ninth-place finish. He qualified eighth in Saudi Arabia, but he retired from the race on Sunday after having suffered race-ending damage in a lap-one collision with Pierre Gasly.
The Japanese driver started from P10 on the grid last time out in Miami. Tsunoda then spent the first part of the race behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, but he picked up a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Despite the penalty, he managed to stay in the point-scoring zone, finishing the race in Florida tenth.
Reflecting on Tsunoda's first four races with Red Bull, team boss Christian Horner has revealed that the Japanese driver is currently losing performance compared to the four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen in every area.
"It’s difficult to pinpoint any one particular area. Like all these things, it’s always little bits across a lap. But he’s finding his feet, he’s brought a decent amount of experience, and he’s giving good feedback.
"I have to say, he’s brought a really positive energy into the team – he’s quite a character – and he’s certainly rapid. I think as he finds confidence, we’ll see him move further up the grid.
Prior to the Miami Grand Prix, Tsunoda has completed a test outing with Red Bull, exploiting the opportunity provided by the Testing of Previous Cars.
"It was just an opportunity for Yuki to spend a bit more time with the engineering staff. His mileage had been very limited with Red Bull Racing.
"So doing a TPC with a couple-of-years-old car gave him the opportunity to get more familiar with the engineering team and procedures at Red Bull. The British weather intervened – there was rain in the morning – but he managed to get a few laps in. So it was useful."
As for Verstappen, who is the only non McLaren driver to have won a race in 2025, Horner said that the Dutchman has even "surprised" Red Bull with his outstanding performances.
"Max has been operating at such a high level for a long time now, even back to 2020 and 2021. He continues to surprise us with the levels he can hit.
"Saudi was unfortunate with the first corner for us, but most the encouraging thing about that race was the pace – both on the Medium and Hard tyres – we had the pace over McLaren, probably for the first time in race conditions this year."
