Tsunoda throws weight behind Verstappen as Red Bull smells a late-season swing
Max Verstappen has turned the 2025 title fight from a cruise into a chase over the past two weekends, and the mood inside Red Bull has changed with it. Two commanding wins in Monza and Baku, aided by a sharply effective new floor, have chopped 35 points out of Oscar Piastri’s lead. The Dutchman still sits 69 points back, but after a flat mid-season, this is the first time the pendulum looks like it might budge.
Yuki Tsunoda, fresh off his best result since stepping up to the senior team with P6 in Azerbaijan, says Red Bull aren’t filing this year under “move on to 2026” just yet — and he’s ready to play wingman if the chance presents itself.
“I think definitely, we are more confident in the coming races to perform better,” Tsunoda said. “I’m sure we’re not giving up with this season, especially securing the Drivers’ Championship for Max. I’ll try to extract performance as much as possible from the car that I have and, if I can support him, that would be good.”
The floor package introduced at Monza looks like a genuine step. Verstappen’s speed through the medium- to high-speed stuff was the story in Italy, while Baku underlined the car’s improved range as Red Bull handled the traction and braking-heavy street circuit with poise. It’s a combo that’s been missing at various points this year, and the effect has been immediate: Verstappen looks like Verstappen again.
Tsunoda’s uptick matters too. His P6 in Baku wasn’t just tidy—he was in the fight on merit, and that kind of buffer car behind the lead Red Bull gives the strategy team options they’ve largely gone without this season.
Still, there’s caution from the pit wall. Team principal Laurent Mekies isn’t biting on the “title charge” line, at least not publicly.
“You know the confidence goes up,” Mekies said after Baku. “So also, you can take a bit more risk every race and experiment a bit more and unlock more lap time. Whether that has an effect on what McLaren does, honestly, I don’t know — probably none of our business. We concentrate on ourselves. We want to see the car making progress in some areas and, if it works, it will be good against McLaren, it will be good against Mercedes and Ferrari.”
That’s the other piece of the puzzle. While much of the field is already swiveling toward the 2026 rules reset, Red Bull has clearly kept enough powder dry to push meaningful updates onto the RB. Call it a bet on now while others go all-in on tomorrow. If Verstappen keeps clipping off wins, that calculus starts to look very smart indeed.
The margins remain slim. McLaren and Mercedes have both had weekends this year where they look like the class of the field, and Ferrari haven’t gone away. But for the first time since the early flyaways, Red Bull has a car that responds to tweaks, and a driver who’s happy to press further into the setup window every Saturday as confidence returns.
Tsunoda’s role could become pivotal as the rounds tick by. His race craft has sharpened, the errors have dried up, and if he can live in that fifth-to-seventh pocket consistently, he’ll be the one prising open strategic doors for Verstappen — or slamming them shut on rivals when it counts.
There’s a long way to go and a lot of ifs. But back-to-back wins have a way of changing the weather. Red Bull aren’t talking big. They don’t need to. The lap time did the talking in Monza and Baku. And if this floor is as real as it looks, the championship storyline just got its late twist.
