Tsunoda: Red Bull debut at home race “the best situation ever”

Yuki Tsunoda has been tasked with being “as close to Max as possible” following his controversial switcheroo with Liam Lawson at Red Bull ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix.

The team made the brutal call to drop Lawson last week after only two races, in which the New Zealander qualified 18th and then last, DNFing on his debut in Australia and scoring no points in China.

This was after promoting the 21-year-old for 2025 instead of Tsunoda, who’d raced in 87 grands prix to Lawson’s, er, 11 by the time Sergio Perez had been kicked out of the second seat.

But despite it being “brutal enough last year when they chose Liam over me”, Yuki is now in a position to show what he can do as Verstappen’s teammate, albeit belatedly.

“They’ve clearly said the main priority is Max,” said Tsunoda, “which I completely understand, because he’s a four-time world champion and already in the last few races – even in difficult situations – he performed well.

“So to be as close as possible to Max, which gives good results for the team. Also it allows the team to support other strategies in the race.” The Tsunoda World Champion 2025 hype train remains firmly parked in the station, then.

How about a podium in his home race? “Yeah, I mean, that would be great. First race, home grand prix – that’s obviously inside of my head. I would say more like a dream rather than a target.

“It will be tough. It’s such limited time to adapt, and it’s [the RB21] a different beast as well. So I’ll do my best and if I can go through Q3 and score points, I’m happy.

“Really looking forward to it. Can’t be crazier than this, I guess. I think it's the best situation ever. I’m just excited.”

Nor is he feeling the pressure of being thrown in at the deepest of deep ends. “For now, I feel really relaxed. It feels similar to when I was at VCARB. Once I entered hospitality [at Suzuka], I was feeling the same. I was only thinking about breakfast.”

Apparently the 24-year-old has already had advice from Perez and Pierre Gasly – two drivers who know only too well how vicious the Red Bull machine can be – but Helmut Marko is yet to speak to him having been full of praise for him a week ago.

“Surprisingly, he didn’t call me yet! Maybe he was busy with other things,” said Yuki. “I can’t wait to see him and see how he’s going to react to me. It’s very unusual. From F3, F2, F1 – he’s always been calling me. But this is the only time he didn’t.”