Horner impressed with Tsunoda: "Drove a very good race"

F1 News

Christian Horner saw Yuki Tsunoda perform well at the Australian grand prix
17 March at 20:30

Red Bull Racing team principal said that Racing Bulls driver Yuki Tsunoda "drove a very good race" at the Australian Grand Prix. The Japanese driver will want to show what he can do after he was, once again, passed up on a potential promotion to the second seat at the Austrian team.

Despite a hugely impressive 2024, it was not Tsunoda, but Liam Lawson who was offered the Red Bull seat next to Max Verstappen. But on the opening weekend of the 2025 season, the New Zealander had a rough debut with his new team, while the Racing Bull driver had a strong weekend. However, in the end, this was not rewarded, as he stayed out too long in the rain and dropped from P5 to P12.

Horner impressed by Tsunoda

Even with after the promise of a good result had eventually fallen apart, Horner did take notice of Tsunoda's drive: "I thought Yuki again drove a very good race today. I didn't follow closely their decision-making for going from slicks to inters. It looked like they perhaps missed the window with that. But I looked up at one point and he was ahead of Charles Leclerc, so that was good."

The Red Bull Racing team boss continued, "They've had a well-balanced car this weekend, so I'm sure they'll be hoping for that to continue in China next week."

Tsunoda himself commented before the race weekend about the seat he did not get at Red Bull, saying he didn't feel he was not the one chosen based on performance. However, he did state that anything is possible in terms of a seat and that Helmut Marko has given him a clear direction to develop.

This article was created in collaboration with Cas van de Kleut.

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