Yuki Tsunoda is certainly frustrated that he can’t show via results the progress made driving the Red Bull F1 car, while he feels it is nice to have Max Verstappen’s reference.
After difficulties that Liam Lawson faced in the two races with Red Bull, Tsunoda was one of their last hopes to get through the current F1 season at least. But it hasn’t worked out in that sense. Even though the Japanese driver has shown promises, he is going through the same set of issues.
He is amidst the spiral which has caught out several before him, which drains out confidence. It is further frustrating that he can’t show the steps he has taken in the last few races. The results haven’t come by at all, whether it is on his race pace or the car struggling at the same time.
“I mean, as a result, obviously, it seems like I am not performing,” said Tsunoda. “But inside the car, I am progressing. As I saw the performance, even with just one pack [of update], it went so fast. It was just a massive step. And, like, just kind of this…current…whole field, it is between five tenths and you miss by 500 hundred of seconds, the field won’t make it easy. The position changes to two-three positions.
“And always, I end up missing being close to Q3, especially from Austria, between one tenth or few hundred seconds and, again, I am always much more like that. I was racing that since a long time ago. So those kind of things was there definitely. It was really difficult to show any results. But actually I’m progressing. And I think I’m able to gain some confidence in the car.
“But just as a result, you see, it’s hard to see. It does kind of work. Anyway, we’re winning anyway. So, obviously, I was pushing hard as much as possible. But that was one of the reasons that made it really quite difficult. I mean, I am [frustrated a little bit. One thing I’m pleased that definitely, at least in my engineering side, in my side of the garage, at least we know that there’s clear progress and a clear pace.
“It’s just a comparable pace that we’re having a good pace. But obviously very frustrating that it’s hard to see. It’s just not good results that I’m not able to see that I’m in Q3 or…that’s one point. But yeah, we knew that this is a bit of a game. But at least we’re going to have a clear step. And we knew that we’re going be back in that position that the team wants,” summed up Tsunoda.
He reiterates his words about Verstappen, but notes that it is not correct to compare, whether it is about him or the previous drivers. The Dutchman’s reference actually helps Tsunoda to monitor his progress that he is making in the car and where he can still improve.
“Yeah, I have to say, he’s probably the best driver in the world,” said Tsunoda. “How he always extracts performance from the car consistently, every session, every round. He’s very impressive. He’s got things that you can do very easily. And it seems like he can. It looks like he does it very easily. But at the same time, I don’t think it’s just bad to compare. I know a lot of people look bad [when compared] with him.
“I know that he’s been here nine years driving the car and I have just arrived. But now, at that point, I can compare directly. But until then, I’m just focused on myself because I know clearly what I can improve. And I just progress in my own way step by step. The good thing about being with him, we are just able to learn a lot of things very quickly because he does a lot of things that I have never done.
“And he’s always able to…kind of give a reference that I can confirm something that I can try something. So, yeah, he’s a person of value, definitely. He’s a nice guy. He’s just a good driver,” summed up Tsunoda, who will be hoping for handy points results in second half to be retained for 2026 by Red Bull.
Here’s Max Verstappen on McLaren
Here’s Red Bull’s stunt
