Yuki Tsunoda during the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix. Image: Bearne / XPB Images
Despite sitting 18th in the championship on 10 points – seven of which have come after replacing Liam Lawson at Red Bull – Tsunoda has not been ruled out for next year.
Marko confirmed the team’s 2026 line-up will not be decided until later this season.
“Our driver evaluation traditionally takes place after the summer break,” he said.
“At the moment, everything is open. We’re looking at performances – both positive and negative.”
Tsunoda has failed to score in his past seven races, most recently finishing 17th in Budapest after starting from the pit lane, following a power unit change after the 25-year-old qualified 16th.
But despite the disappointing result, Red Bull’s motorsport advisor said the Japanese driver is still progressing.
“He was as near as never before, one-tenth he was behind,” Marko said.
“But unfortunately, he was dropped out in Q1. He’s moving up.”
Red Bull made a strategic call to change Tsunoda’s power unit and brake cooling configuration prior to the race, taking the penalty in Hungary where overtaking is difficult rather than at a potentially costlier venue later in the season.
“Because he would have to change at maybe Monza or Zandvoort. And I think because of his starting position, it was strategically better to do it here,” Marko explained.
Tsunoda’s performance early in the Hungarian weekend was encouraging, lapping three-tenths quicker than Verstappen in Friday practice and within a tenth of him in Q1.
Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies described it as “maybe his best so far,” adding: “After also some progression in Spa, I think it’s something that he and his engineering team have been doing a very good job at.”
Tsunoda has repeatedly stressed that the gap to Verstappen is narrowing since the introduction of a key floor upgrade in Belgium.
“Looking back on the season so far, I can feel pretty positive, we’ve made progress, especially since the new floor upgrades were brought to Spa,” he said.
“The gap with Max continues to close. It may not feel like we are getting there but on paper we are only one tenth off his pace. I’m not sure many other drivers could get as close to him.”
Damage suffered midway through the Hungarian Grand Prix further compromised Tsunoda’s race, with a gurney flap falling off his front wing.
“That cost us a lot of pace and worsening grip, so we then lost the ability to make a positive strategy call that would benefit us.” he said.
Tsunoda also pointed to recent communication issues within the team, referencing missed opportunities in Hungary and at Spa.
“Also, something we can improve a lot communication-wise is that if I was fighting for the points, there was a situation that could cost quite big,” he added.
“It has happened the last two weeks, the last two races back-to-back in a row so it is starting to get very frustrating with that. Something we have to improve a lot and fight hard the second half.”
Tsunoda said he remains focused on turning things around after the current break.
“We need to investigate where we went wrong and put in some hard work over the summer break so that we don’t start the next half of the season how we finished this one,” said Tsunoda.
“It’s frustrating, but we will stay positive and bounce back stronger.”