Securing a season’s best P6 in Baku, Yuki Tsunoda has given Red Bull more to think about ahead of its F1 2026 driver decision with Laurent Mekies adamant the team is no rush to make a decision.

Although days ago it looked as if Tsunoda’s hopes of retaining the Red Bull seat were over after Isack Hadjar secured two top-ten results on the trot, including a podium at Zandvoort, Tsunoda threw his name back into the hat with his performance at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Red Bull in ‘no rush’ to decide Yuki Tsunoda’s future

The Japanese driver has struggled to adapt to the RB21, and scored just nine points in his first 14 races with the team.

He seemed to reach a turning point in Baku, reporting “now it makes sense” after showing good pace in the long runs on Friday.

Tsunoda followed that up with a sixth place in Sunday’s 51-lap grand prix where he held off a late charge from Lando Norris to secure his best result as a Red Bull driver.

Team principal Laurent Mekies said it was Tsunoda’s “best” race with the Milton Keynes squad, and highlighted his pace in comparison to race winner Max Verstappen.

“I think it’s his best race with us this year,” Mekies said. “I think he was strong in qualifying; he was very strong in the race.

“You know the clever guys will get the number right, but he was sometimes two, sometimes three, sometimes four-tenths away from Max. And Max was pulling away from everyone with that pace, so it was very, very serious pace.

“We thought he will have to defend very hard against McLaren and Ferrari to help with Max chasing the win, and he didn’t have to defend.

“He was actually there on merit and, and Lando stayed behind him and didn’t put much pressure on him. So it’s his best, not only result, but also race pace with us.

“It was really the one thing we wanted that probably was the most important for us to get that sort of clean sample, we said last time. And I think he was listening, and it’s good.”

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Quizzed on what exactly had changed for Tsunoda that he could unlock the pace in his RB21, Mekies wouldn’t go into details other than to say a lot of hard work and hours in the simulator had paid off.

“Obviously we are not going to go into much detail for obvious reasons,” he said. “Everybody in Milton Keynes has been pushing hard, never giving up on that car to try to see why it wasn’t performing as well as numbers suggested, and that includes the drivers in the loop, as we call the simulator.

“Hence, the inputs from Max and Yuki are vital to get these steps. They are the best sensors in the car. They certainly have contributed a lot to unlock the step in performance we seem to have found in these conditions.”

Tsunoda’s Baku performance does, however, pose a conundrum for Red Bull as the team debates who will partner Verstappen next season.

While a week ago it appeared as if Hadjar was a shoe-in, PlanetF1.com understands from well-informed sources that Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has already informed the Frenchman that he would be with the senior team next year, Mekies says Red Bull still has time to make a decision.

All four Red Bull drivers were in the points on Sunday with Verstappen taking the win, Liam Lawson securing a career-best P5 in the Racing Bulls F1 car, Tsunoda coming home in sixth place and Hadjar P10.

“It’s good news for us, it’s good news,” he said. That’s what we wish, that our drivers have performed.

“It’s good news to see Yuki keeping up, he deserves it.

“It’s why you see us relaxed about it, because we have time. Why would we rush? Because drivers, you know, speed doesn’t disappear, drivers makes progress, and it’s such a confidence business.

“And you see, the confidence of Yuki’s weekend was certainly high up. And he did very, very, very, very strongly. So, we have more time, as we said, we will not wait until Abu Dhabi, but we have a few more races.”

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