Fresh Yuki Tsunoda data gives Red Bull hope in Japanese GP

Yuki Tsunoda was eliminated in Q2 during Japanese GP qualifying and was outperformed by the Racing Bulls of both Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar.

The Japanese driver, despite a solid start, faded in his first real test with Red Bull, while teammate Max Verstappen secured his 41st pole position in F1.

There’s still hope for Yuki Tsunoda

After a promising Friday and a Q1 that showed signs of improvement compared to Liam Lawson’s performance in his first and only two races with Red Bull, Tsunoda failed at the key moment on his debut with the Milton Keynes team.

The Japanese driver, racing in front of his home crowd, was unable to put together a strong lap in Q2 and was beaten not only by Verstappen but also by Hadjar and Lawson — both driving the VCARB 02, the clear fifth-best car on the grid at Suzuka.

One of the big concerns surrounding the sudden driver swap between Tsunoda and Lawson was answered: What would happen if Tsunoda finished behind Lawson on debut?

For now, things appear calm, as the Japanese driver did not leave an extremely poor impression. His Q2 lap was quite weak — worse than what he managed in Q1 — while his direct rivals, including Verstappen, improved their lap times by around four-tenths of a second on average.

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In fact, looking at his sector times, Tsunoda’s Q1 and Q2 laps were nearly identical. However, it was in the third sector where he lost the most time in Q2, particularly through the high-speed left-hander 130R at Suzuka.

Compared to Verstappen, Tsunoda’s Q2 lap wasn’t bad at all. However, Turns 1 and 2 proved to be his Achilles heel in qualifying. He still lacks the confidence to fully attack the high-speed corners, which became quite evident.

This is also reflected in the higher-downforce setup Tsunoda is running compared to his teammate this weekend in an effort to find more confidence. The Japanese driver reached a top speed of 321 km/h, compared to the 325 km/h reached by the Dutchman in the RB21.

Despite being beaten by Hadjar — who is currently in sensational qualifying form — Lawson seems clearly more at ease in the Racing Bulls car. It only took him one qualifying session with his former — and now once again current — team to outperform anything he had achieved in qualifying with Red Bull.

And compared to Tsunoda, everything points to the VCARB 02 being a more forgiving car when it comes to finding the limit with less adaptation time. That said, it’s not a car capable of delivering the same lap time potential as the RB21.

Tsunoda will start the race from P14, just behind Lawson in P13. Without a doubt, this will be one of the hottest battles to watch in Sunday’s race at Suzuka.

The threat of rain could make this home duel for the Japanese driver even more interesting, with both drivers experiencing wet-weather driving for the first time with their new cars in the third round of the 2025 calendar.

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