That trajectory was halted, however, by a monster crash at the start of qualifying at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Imola.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
It was costly beyond results. Beyond damaging his confidence, the smash wrote off Tsunoda\u2019s set of the team\u2019s latest upgrades.<\/p>\n
It left him at least one step behind Verstappen in terms of car specification for months, with the team unwilling to compromise the Dutchman\u2019s pool of spares to keep Tsunoda\u2019s car up to date.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Imola [crash] is for sure something that I look back at that frustrates me a lot still, because the crash I had was very unnecessary,\u201d Tsunoda said, per Racer. \u201cBut also for sure that made me take a back step in terms of the parts.\u201d<\/p>\n
PIT TALK PODCAST: McLaren manages to turn an easy Oscar Piastri victory into a Max Verstappen cruise, hurting the Australian\u2019s title campaign and cutting Lando Norris\u2019s lead to 12 points over the Dutchman. With three drivers now in contention, what are the permutations for this weekend\u2019s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix?<\/p>\n
It took the arrival of Laurent Mekies as team principal to accelerate Tsunoda\u2019s supply of new parts. He had a car that was a closer match for Verstappen for much of the second half of the year, and occasionally the two were running identical parts.<\/p>\n
It was a boost to Tsunoda\u2019s confidence and form, with his average qualifying deficit shrinking from 0.563 seconds during Christian Horner\u2019s reign to 0.467 seconds under Mekies.<\/p>\n
But the improvements were more pronounced at the races where the cars were in broadly identical specification, with Tsunoda roughly 0.3 seconds off the pace in Belgium, Hungary, Mexico, Brazil and Qatar.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you just look at the result of where I was in Q1 and [Verstappen is] consistently top three, top four, the result looked bad,\u201d he said. \u201cBut at the same time, if you just see the performance side, even the times that I exited in Q1, I can\u2019t remember the last time I was 0.4 seconds or 0.5 seconds behind.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I got exactly the same car, I was very competitive with him, and I think that\u2019s what this [the driver in the second] seat was struggling at.<\/p>\n
\u201cActually I\u2019m proud of myself, how I grew up and how I improved throughout the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cMax has been here for years now. He knows about this car, a lot of things. Obviously I can\u2019t deny that he\u2019s the best driver on the grid, but at the same time, I\u2019m happy that I\u2019m able to catch up quite quickly at this level myself, especially this very tight field \u2014 this year is one of the tightest fields in history.\u201d<\/p>\n
But his axing despite his improvements left a bitter taste in his mouth all the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously I\u2019m disappointed, and pissed off,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was right after the race from Helmut [that I was told] privately that I\u2019m not racing next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cSurprisingly I\u2019m okay \u2014 I mean, not okay, but the day after, the next morning, I ordered breakfast as usual, same food, and probably I\u2019m not recognising that it will be the last race, at least for next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe I\u2019ll feel more after Abu Dhabi, but that\u2019s how it went and how I feel now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Max capitalises on McLaren mare | 02:44<\/p>\n
His sacking continues a long line of drivers struggling in Red Bull Racing\u2019s second seat since Daniel Ricciardo quit the team at the end of 2018, with Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, P\u00e9rez and Lawson all having been dropped before him.<\/p>\n
Lawson was able to return to Racing Bulls for the rest of this season, where the Kiwi rebuilt his reputation and earnt another contract.<\/p>\n
It was widely remarked earlier in the year that, though the Racing Bulls car is slower, its performance is much easier to access.<\/p>\n
Ironically the impressive form Tsunoda was showing at the Italian junior team is what ultimately led to his promotion and downfall at Red Bull Racing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only regret I have is missing out on that pretty good f***ing car in the VCARB,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut also it\u2019s like throwing away your kids, your baby, because it\u2019s the car that I developed with the team throughout the years since we had these regulations, and I\u2019m sure there\u2019s my DNA inside it as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo obviously missing out on that and [leaving] without finally able to get in the level that we wanted is something that I missed, but at the same time I don\u2019t regret that decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tsunoda\u2019s axing was part of the final act of the 2026 driver market. Isack Hadjar\u2019s promotion to Red Bull Racing made way for Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad to take his seat at Racing Bulls alongside the retained Lawson.<\/p>\n
Brown and Piastri’s awkward moment | 00:17<\/p>\n
It left Tsunoda without a shot at a full-time drive this season; he\u2019ll fill the role of reserve for both teams in 2026.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s despite speculation teams had shown interest in signing him during the year, rumours the confirmed this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing is, my contract was there, so I couldn\u2019t do much within that,\u201d he explained. \u201cI had a couple of [expressions of] interest externally, but the contract didn\u2019t really allow me to talk with them or whatever.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why I was fully focused on the Red Bull seat, and anyway, it was my priority for the last few years in the Red Bull family, because it\u2019s the place where I grew up as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Albon could prove inspiration for Tsunoda next season. The Thai driver was dropped by Red Bull Racing at the end of 2020 but similarly retained as a reserve driver, which he paired with an external racing program.<\/p>\n
That led to him signing with Williams in 2022, where he\u2019s become integral to the British team\u2019s rise back up the grid.<\/p>\n
Tsunoda said he would attempt to make the most of his year on the sidelines.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited to see from a different perspective, through different eyes, next year because it\u2019s the first time in my career that I\u2019m not racing,\u201d he said. \u201cI was never really sitting down in the office while people were racing, so I can\u2019t refer to it this way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can see more of the view, have [the ability to hear] whatever every driver is doing, so maybe I can learn a lot of things that I never imagined, so I\u2019m excited for that.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso I will still try to be in this shape as much as possible whenever any opportunity comes, I\u2019ll smash it with that opportunity. So until then, keep my shape good and wait for it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yuki Tsunoda is \u201cpissed off\u201d at having been sacked by Red Bull Racing after less than a season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[944,2095,14212,1724,64,63,22776,2071,184307,11308,23062,184310,2791,1199,184308,181139,14210,16177,9239,11301,2057,2105,939,34887,184309,2328,941,2082,181151,825,2184,806,805,803,804,2041,111169,184311,2119,16260,184312,184306,2072,11298,3595,184313,85,13773,12000,2062,5077],"class_list":["post-328972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-abu-dhabi","tag-america","tag-arvid-lindblad","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-average-qualifying-deficit","tag-belgium","tag-bitter-taste","tag-brazil","tag-british-team","tag-car-specification","tag-central-america","tag-christian-horner","tag-crucial-momentum","tag-dramatic-final-race","tag-driver-market","tag-drivers-title","tag-eastern-asia","tag-eastern-europe","tag-europe","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-hungary","tag-imola","tag-italian-junior-team","tag-italy","tag-japan","tag-mark-thompson","tag-max-capitalises","tag-max-verstappen","tag-mexico","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-north-america","tag-performance-side","tag-pinpoints-moment","tag-pit-talk","tag-qatar","tag-qualifying-deficit-shrinking","tag-racing-program","tag-sergio-perez","tag-south-america","tag-southern-europe","tag-speculation-teams","tag-sports","tag-team-principal","tag-western-asia","tag-western-europe","tag-yuki-tsunoda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}