Red Bull have made their expectations of Yuki Tsunoda clear as he prepares to start his first race for the team this weekend.
Tsunoda has swapped places with Liam Lawson, who failed to score points in either of his first two events after joining the team at the start of the season.While Lawson failed to proceed beyond the first round of qualifying in his RB21, Tsunoda started both of the first two rounds in the top 10 for Racing Bulls. Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko said the team needs that kind of performance in order to maximise their strategic options for Max Verstappen during the grands prix.
“We were worried that [Lawson’s] self-confidence is so damaged that he couldn’t bring his normal performance,” the team’s motorsport consultant Helmut Marko told the Associated Press.
“And on the other hand, we have two drivers for the constructors’ championship but also to support Max strategy-wise, if you have two drivers [in the] top five or eight it is easier to max a strategy that favours the number one driver.”
Tsunoda has previously proven willing to help Verstappen when driving for Red Bull’s second Formula 1 team. At the Turkish Grand Prix in 2021, when the Red Bull driver was locked in a close fight with Lewis Hamilton for the world championship, Tsunoda admitted he compromised his own race strategy by trying to keep Verstappen’s rival behind.
“I want Max to win,” he told RaceFans at the time, “it’s the last year of Honda [with] Red Bull as well. I tried to hold Lewis as much as possible, I don’t know how many laps. I was trying to save more but I couldn’t.
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“I just used too much tyre early on battling with Hamilton. After that it was really hard to keep up the pace.”
A few weeks later Tsunoda’s team principal came to his defence after Red Bull’s Christian Horner accused him of compromising Verstappen’s lap during qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix. Verstappen had to slow down when his team mate ran wide after encountering Tsunoda on the circuit. “We got Tsunoda’d,” Horner said afterwards.
Red Bull’s decision to promote the far less experienced Lawson instead of Tsunoda at the end of last year prompted surprise from some. Horner said the team’s objective was to score points with both cars, something they failed to do on eight occasions last season and did not manage in the first two rounds this year.
After the first two rounds of the season Verstappen lies second in the championship, eight points behind leader Lando Norris.
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BasCB (@bascb)
1st April 2025, 7:33
Right. Great for Tsunoda – he’s being told that he’ll be sacrificed in the race for Max if he is doing what they want him to (qualifying in the mid top ten, being able to hold that position for the first part of the race to be a factor in pitstop strategy for the front runners?).
At least Tsunoda knows the track, so he might have a good shot at qualifying in the top 10 (or we’ll see the car really is not up to it for anyone but Max), let’s see how he fares.
Red Pill (@redpill)
1st April 2025, 8:36
@bascb
Exactly,
Never get closer than two positions to MV, you don’t want to upset MV, but not more than four positions back unless instructed to fall on the grenade in front of his home crowd for MV’s sake. So much for the WCC strategy, and focused more on just the WDC; I wonder who’s calling that? Umhum
Very nice RB, way to go!
US_Peter (@us_peter)
1st April 2025, 22:30
I for one am looking forward to watching Lawson outqualify and outrace Tsunoda. Nothing against him personally, but I’d like a nice big bowl of Helmut Marko Schadenfreude to eat this weekend.
BasCB (@bascb)
2nd April 2025, 15:13
:-) That really would make me happy to see too yeah.
Jazz (@jazz)
1st April 2025, 8:57
Imagine having to race under permanent team orders. Yuki isn’t a racer anymore, he’s a chess piece.
Roy Beedrill
1st April 2025, 16:20
We’ve been here with Bottas and Barrichello already, sad to watch yes, but can’t help it, especially if you have to catch up and your car is lacking pace.
Aquila_GD
1st April 2025, 9:24
I feel the reason why Red Bull did not promote Tsunoda earlier was because they were concerned about the pace that he has and they do not want to unravel their golden boy.
They have made it a point to pick slow teammates against Verstappen and go out of their way to favour him such that he dominates his teammates in a very unusual way in F1 history. This is not to say Verstappen does not have talent or is not one of the greatest drivers but a situation where a team creates an unequal environment certainly does not do him any favours in terms of the respect of his peers or indeed historians
Applebook
2nd April 2025, 3:54
Except even Lawson stepped in midseason and was immediately right on Yuki’s pace. If Yuki can consistently be within half a second of Max, that should be considered pretty solid.
Armchair Expert (@armchairexpert)
1st April 2025, 9:25
Tsunoda is not only 0.5s/lap slower than Max (Andrew Benson: Is the Red Bull still the best car? If you walk around the paddock and talk to the team bosses, I’ve had a couple of very senior people in Formula One this year say to me: “I think Verstappen’s got two or three tenths on everybody as a driver.”), but also he’s a paydriver, so that’s what he deserves. Honda paid 10 million for him to get into the car for Japan and until the rest of the season. If anyone expects Tsunoda to do anything other than support Max (which is already a huge achievement in itself) you are in for a rude awakening.
Derek Edwards
1st April 2025, 9:57
He means “Max a strategy”, surely…
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
1st April 2025, 11:19
Don’t worry he’ll be P20. So unless Verstappen is getting P19 I wouldn’t worry about it.
Edvaldo
1st April 2025, 12:50
And he said a podium would be a dream.
Perhaps one day in a different team.
rprp
1st April 2025, 12:55
Please, please, please, if someone or something is out there listening, make it so that Tsunoda qualifies ahead of Max and drives off into the distance.
SteveP
2nd April 2025, 7:41
Unlikely, but potentially amusing.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
1st April 2025, 13:23
Translation:
Tsunoda rivals during qualifying.
Don’t move over when shown blue flag.
Run alternative tire choices during races.
Horner’s best ever quote, We got Tsunoda’d.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
1st April 2025, 20:59
They’ve decided it’s better to do the Tsunodaing yourself.
Davethechicken
1st April 2025, 15:31
Red Bull’s logic over the past few years is impossible to understand.
On one hand they repeatedly trot out the lines that Max is the best driver on the grid, generational talent etc etc.
But they go absolutely out of their way to find a compliant number two who is solely there to support him. Rookie teammates, over the hill journeymen. Reluctantly giving Yuki a go, who to be fair is very far from a generational talent.
Makes no sense.
If they actually believe Max is that good, why on earth do they not hire the best second driver they can? By their own logic he isn’t going to beat him anyway. Maybe they don’t actually believe it at all.
anon
1st April 2025, 21:25
Davethechicken, they’re very open about the fact that they rely more heavily on monetising media rights for their drivers as a means of raising revenue for the team compared to the rest of the grid – the higher the value of Max’s brand, the better it is for the team and their parent company.
David BR (@david-br)
1st April 2025, 15:34
So basically Max has 3 other drivers working for him every race. Including himself that’s 20% of the current grid driving for Max Verstappen. Not bad. Does he really need all that help?
Davethechicken
1st April 2025, 15:46
“Does he really need all that help?” It would appear so. No other reason to do it.
Applebook
2nd April 2025, 3:53
In this year’s car, he actually does. That thing doesn’t look very drivable or fast.
Grapmg
1st April 2025, 15:47
It’s simple if Yuki is consistently quicker than Max he will become the new #1. Leclerc did it to Vettel so why not. He has to believe in himself so qualify in front and stay there is all he has to do. If not he will be used for strategy only.
Edvaldo
1st April 2025, 16:44
If this were Ferrari, then yes. But it isn’t.
It’s the only team where new drivers get in there and are told not to try to win.
Franky
1st April 2025, 17:58
Last time I saw someone trying to win Max, suddenly the team decided they were developing their car “to maximise performance” and the second driver lost pace. No interpretation just facts.
Jay
1st April 2025, 18:03
Source?
Edvaldo
1st April 2025, 18:14
You can easily google it. Marko said that Lawson should not try to beat Max, instead, he should focus on doing his own thing and let Max do the winning.
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
1st April 2025, 19:21
Congratulations, this is the best April Fool’s Day joke I’ve seen today.
Johns
1st April 2025, 19:47
At least he wont be asked to cause a crash to bring out a red flag. Red bull is not that dishonest
PlosslF1 (@f1-ploss)
1st April 2025, 20:06
Cool, least they have finally admitted its a tail gunner with two B-Team wing men… (Queue Darth Vader Walk Music)… :)
Jorge Jaime (@jorgejaime)
1st April 2025, 21:05
I hope Yuki doesn’t get the rear end loose and have a good drive this weekend
Davethechicken
1st April 2025, 22:51
Lol, it will be 2018 all over again if he does, suddenly, like Daniel after Baku, he won’t have a properly working car again!
Davethechicken
1st April 2025, 22:52
Reply to Jorge Jamie above