Formula 1: Everything got worse and worse, says Tsunoda on qualifying debut for Red Bull

IANS April 5, 2025 182 views

Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda faced a challenging qualifying session in his Red Bull debut at the home Grand Prix. Despite starting in P15, grid penalties improved his starting position to P14 for Sunday's race. Tsunoda expressed disappointment, noting that his performance deteriorated throughout qualifying. Teammate Max Verstappen, in contrast, secured a stunning pole position at the Suzuka Circuit.

"Everything got worse and worse throughout" - Yuki Tsunoda, Sky Sports F1
Suzuka, April 5: On the day his Red Bull teammate, Max Verstappen, grabbed an incredible pole, Yuki Tsunoda’s qualifying kept getting ‘worse and worse throughout as he was eliminated in Q2 at the Japanese GP qualifying.

Key Points

1

Tsunoda eliminated in Q2 during home Grand Prix qualifying

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Verstappen secures pole position at Suzuka

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Grid penalties shuffle starting positions

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Tsunoda remains optimistic about car performance

The Japanese driver, making his debut for Red Bull at his home Grand Prix, was knocked out in P15—one place behind his predecessor, Liam Lawson. However, following Carlos Sainz's three-place grid penalty, both Tsunoda and Lawson have been promoted up the order and will start in P14 and P13, respectively, for Sunday's race.

“I think the warmup didn’t go as I wanted. I’m still learning. The warmup, how it ended up, I thought it was ok. I knew it was maybe going to be a bit compromised, but the penalty was pretty big.

“It’s a shame that I wasn’t able to extract the performance from the car. It was looking good from Q1, and it just felt that overall, everything got worse and worse throughout. A great shame. The confidence in the car at least feels good now, it’s just that I wasn’t able to put it all together today. Very sad,” said Tsunoda to Sky Sports F1.

Verstappen, on the other hand, pulled off a stunning late lap to take pole position for the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix, denying McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in a nail-biting finish at Suzuka Circuit.

Tsunoda further went on to reveal that despite the grand occasion of making his Red Bull debut in front of his home crowd, he did not feel too much pressure.

“Surprisingly, I feel ok in terms of pressure. The laps in Q2, the lap was probably the most pressured time out of the previous sessions.

"I felt it probably more last year than this year. This year, the mindset was probably more just to enjoy it and feel the car. At the same time, I had the pace from FP3, so I didn’t expect it to end up like this today,” he added.

Reader Comments

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Mark T.
Tough debut for Yuki but he's got the right attitude. Home race pressure is no joke! Hope he bounces back strong tomorrow 💪 That RB car has potential if he can find the sweet spot.
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Sarah L.
I feel for him - making your Red Bull debut at Suzuka must be such a mix of emotions! His honesty about the performance drop is refreshing though. No excuses, just facts.
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James K.
Respectfully, I think Red Bull might have rushed this promotion. Yuki's a great driver but going from AT to RB at his home GP? That's a massive step. Hope he proves me wrong in the race though!
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Aisha R.
That contrast between Verstappen's pole and Tsunoda's struggle shows just how insane Max is 😳 But Yuki's got time to grow into that seat. Race pace could be totally different!
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Tommy G.
"Everything got worse and worse" - man that's heartbreaking to hear from any athlete. Hope his engineers can figure out what went wrong between sessions. Rooting for points tomorrow! 🏁
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Kira S.
Interesting that he felt less pressure than last year! Shows mental growth. Quali might've been rough but race day is where champions are made. Go Yuki! 🇯🇵

We welcome thoughtful discussions from our readers. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic.

Tags:
Formula 1 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull Racing Japanese Grand Prix Max Verstappen Suzuka Circuit
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