Yuki Tsunoda is not going slow in indicating what he would like to do at the Japanese Grand Prix; he wants to finish on the podium after having taken up a Red Bull race seat for the remainder of the 2025 Formula 1 season.
Red Bull officially promoted Tsunoda on Thursday after a crazy beginning to the season. The transfer was rumored since last weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix. By this promotion, Liam Lawson returns to Racing Bulls after two tough games in Shanghai and Melbourne.
For Tsunoda, the chance is after four years with Red Bull’s junior outfit. Sometimes he worried that a full-time spot with the senior team would never be his. But following a strong beginning to 2025, he has finally got his opportunity—just at the right time for his home race at Suzuka.
Speaking at a Honda event in Aoyama, his enthusiasm was palpable.
“Honestly, I never thought I’d be racing for Red Bull at the Japanese Grand Prix,” Tsunoda said. “This is the last year of the partnership between Red Bull and Honda, so to be able to race in Suzuka as a Red Bull driver is like destiny. Everything has just sort of come together at the right time.”
The fact of the switch hasn’t fully registered with him yet, but that hasn’t prevented him from making lofty plans.
“Of course, I was delighted to join Red Bull, but when I really sat back and considered it, the prospect of appearing at Suzuka for Red Bull out of the blue seemed so surreal,” he commented. “I don’t want to sound too prophesistic, but for this race, I hope to be on the podium. That being said, I do know it won’t happen easily from the very beginning.”.
“My main aim is to initially get to know the car, how it reacts in comparison to the VCARB. If I can easily enjoy driving it and become familiar with it during FP1, then the performances will follow suit. And if that results in a podium, that would be amazing.”
Tsunoda, though, still has to pilot the RB21, with Japan debut both his golden chance as well as tremendous test. The second seat with Red Bull is always one of the toughest jobs in F1, and so many have taken their toll with their inability to settle in. However, all 24 thinks is the stress.
“When I originally received the call, I thought: ‘Wow, this is going to be interesting,’ he remembered. “Above all, I am looking forward to the challenge in front of me.
“There aren’t many times in life when you are under such extreme pressure and have an opportunity so large as this, so I can only hope that it’s going to be an extremely exciting race.”
Being announced suddenly meant that he had not much time to soak in all the excitement first.
“At the beginning, I was too preoccupied to even take the time to really get used to it. I needed to go ahead and get immediately into the simulator, do fittings in the seats, and have to deal with a lot of other preparations,” he said.
In spite of the storm of feelings, Tsunoda kept a level head, giving precedence to talks with his engineers and team that had worked with him till then.
“Naturally, getting promoted to Red Bull is an incredible chance, but first and foremost, I wanted to discuss with my engineers and the guys who had stood behind me. So, in spite of all the feelings, I was very calm.”
Having done a seat fitting earlier in the year as a reserve driver, Tsunoda conceded at the time that he wasn’t certain it would ever prove useful.
“Then, I was thinking: ‘Why am I doing this? I’m not going to be racing anyway,'” he said.
Now with two days of simulator running under his belt, Tsunoda feels upbeat about the RB21.
“From that experience, I didn’t find the car that hard to drive,” he said. “I certainly got the sense that the front-end is extremely responsive, as everyone says. But if you ask me if it felt squirrely to drive, I wouldn’t say it put me in a weird feeling, at least in the simulator.”
He did, however, concede his previous statement about last year’s car being good for his style of driving were “a bit of a sales pitch” to Red Bull.
“Obviously, how I prefer to balance the car might be different to Max. I want to have my own car setup, try to understand it well, and then slowly catch up from FP1.”
Ryo Michigami, a former WTCC driver and his mentor, tried to downplay the expectations by saying that he didn’t want to put too much pressure on him. Tsunoda, however, reacted differently.
“Yes, please pile on the expectations and pressure!” laughed he.
Throughout his career, the Japanese Grand Prix will be one to remember. Even with the huge challenge that awaits him, Tsunoda is embracing every part of it and is determined to take his perfect chance.