Yuki Tsunoda said it is \u201cquite clear\u201d what he must do to retain his Red Bull seat, as a decision over the F1 2026 line-ups moves closer.<\/p>\n
With Red Bull driver programme boss Helmut Marko having teased finalisation no later than October<\/a>, Tsunoda<\/a> suggested repeats of his Baku performances are the target to keep his name in the hunt. However, having failed to carry that momentum through Singapore, Formula E racer Sam Bird suggested it is a \u201cmatter of time\u201d before Tsunoda is out at Red Bull.<\/p>\n Yuki Tsunoda: Does he have a Red Bull future?<\/p>\n Tsunoda secured an impressive sixth-place finish around the Baku City Circuit, a timely step forward for the Japanese racer, who has found himself the latest Max Verstappen teammate flirting with the Red Bull exit door, in what has been a challenging experience with the senior team. Qualifying P15 and finishing P12 in Singapore was not the follow-up Tsunoda had in mind.<\/p>\n That performance had Bird casting a grim Tsunoda prediction as he spoke on the BBC Chequered Flag podcast.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s only a matter of time now before he vacates that seat,\u201d Bird said of Tsunoda. \u201cIt\u2019s a matter of \u2018when,\u2019 not \u2018if.\u2019 Is it going to happen during the end of this season?<\/p>\n \u201cWould they give someone like Isack Hadjar a chance and go, \u2018Look, you\u2019ve got six races now at the big team; there\u2019s no pressure. Get settled in. Learn about your engineer, learn about the way that they work. Learn about how to cope with the Max Verstappen car that we will build you in the future \u2014 because we\u2019re not going to build you a car. We\u2019re going to build Max Verstappen a car and see if you can hang onto it.\u201d<\/p>\n Ahead of the Singapore GP, Tsunoda explained how he can keep himself in the mix for an F1 2026 seat with one of the Red Bull teams.<\/p>\n \u201cThe thing I have to do is quite clear,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve just shown just those things, I guess, [at] one race so far, well, an especially good one, like P6.<\/p>\n \u201cBut so far, at least, as soon as I came here for the second-half of the season, I think Q3 is there, points is there. So at least in a right direction. So I\u2019m showing at least I\u2019m able to improve from the first-half of the season much more than I did.<\/p>\n \u201cSo yeah, just keep what I\u2019m doing. I obviously want to have more, but I think those things will come with the efforts and obviously, also how much I can put it all together more.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I think confidence, and I think understanding about the car, those things, it\u2019s getting better and better. I just have to put it all together. But I think, yeah, definitely right direction.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd what I got in that race [in Baku] was slightly a bit different to others, which for me, other races were a bit more coming from sometimes luck or whatever. But I feel like that race, I just got that P6 without any, I would say, luck or anything. So that\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n How F1 2026 is shaping up<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49\u00a0F1 2026: Confirmed teams and power unit suppliers for F1\u2019s huge regulation changes<\/a><\/p>\n