Yuki Tsunoda stated that he didn’t think “a normal driver can live with it in my seat” at Red Bull, days before the announcement that he would lose his seat for the 2026 Formula 1 season.
The Japanese driver made the comments immediately after the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday, in which he finished 10th, two days before the formal announcement that he will not be retained by the Milton Keynes-based squad as a full-time racer for next season.
After taking the number two seat alongside Max Verstappen from the Japanese Grand Prix in April, Tsunoda has often been unable to get close to his World Champion team-mate.
Mitigating circumstances have contributed to this, such as the overall uncompetitiveness of the RB21 during the earlier part of the season, his carrying of older parts on the car compared to Verstappen, and, of course, the high bar set by Verstappen’s own driving levels.
This is something Tsunoda was quick to point out to media including Motorsport Week in Doha.
“I mean especially the last three races, the team gave me a lot of support and [I was] able to drive with [an] almost identical car to Max, and I think within that I proved a lot of things,” he said.
“I think since I had an identical car, I was always within two, three tenths and even last weekend [in Las Vegas], consistently FP1 to FP3, there was multiple laps I was ahead of him.
“Yesterday, Sprint Qualifying [in Qatar], able to help him and finish ahead of Max in qualifying, Sprint qualifying.
“Qualifying was a bit of a shame, but within that worst case, I was still three tenths behind and three tenths behind [is] normally qualifying by top five.”
Yuki Tsunoda will be replaced by Isack Hadjar [inset] at Red Bull next year
Others failed to be ‘consistently able to get this close’ to Verstappen at Red Bull – Tsunoda
Saturday’s Sprint saw Tsunoda line up fifth on the grid, one place ahead of Verstappen – the first time he has outqualified the World Champion in their time as stablemates.
Between Daniel Ricciardo’s exit and Sergio Perez’s arrival at Red Bull, Verstappen was often a fair distance ahead of both team-mates in that time: Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon.
Perez’s latter stages at the team were fraught with a vastly growing gap between himself and Verstappen, amid the RB20’s downturn in form in 2024.
Tsunoda believed that, under the circumstances, he was able to get closer to Verstappen than his predecessors, having taken over from Liam Lawson after just two races.
“So yeah, I think I’m showing what I can do,” he continued, “and I don’t think within my seat [others have] consistently [been] able to drive like this close.
“At least what I remember, last few years, I didn’t see much drivers like this, able to achieve like this step in the middle of the season and went through very, very difficult moments with the beginning of the season.
“But yeah, I think it’s just a matter of now, I’ll try to help Max next race. But, like I said, [the] pace is there and I don’t think a normal driver can live with it in my seat yet.”
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