Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull future drifts in the grey zone
The Baku bounce didn’t last long. Two weeks after a punchy P6 in Azerbaijan hinted at a corner turned, Yuki Tsunoda trudged out of Singapore empty-handed, lapped by Max Verstappen and no closer to clarity on whether he’ll still be in Red Bull colours next season.
Since stepping into the senior team to replace Liam Lawson at the Japanese Grand Prix, Tsunoda’s story has largely been a midfield grind with one bright flash. In Baku he qualified sixth with Verstappen on pole and held his ground for his best result yet in Red Bull machinery. It wasn’t a fluke either, said team boss Laurent Mekies, who praised not just the finish but the manner of it.
“I think it’s his best race with us this year,” Mekies said afterwards. “He was strong in qualifying; he was very strong in the race. He was actually there on merit and Lando stayed behind him and didn’t put much pressure on him. So it’s his best, not only result, but also race pace with us.” The subtext: this is the clean, controlled sample the team had been waiting to see.
But Singapore told a different story. Tsunoda was the slowest finisher among the two Red Bull-owned teams in qualifying, out in Q2 in 13th. He complained of a car that wouldn’t bite and a track that wouldn’t give him anything. “I couldn’t understand what the limitation is. Just generally lack of grip overall and that’s the main thing,” he said. “It’s hard to say. Just unlucky off grip overall and just struggled to bring it up.”
Race day didn’t soften the blow. A ragged opening lap cost him places he never truly recovered. “It definitely was the worst start or the first lap ever in my life,” Tsunoda admitted. “I can’t still believe what happened in the first lap… To be honest, the pace was one of the best I’ve had in my Red Bull career so far. It’s a shame what I had there.” Verstappen, meanwhile, was on another planet, to the point of lapping his teammate. Tsunoda left Marina Bay still stuck on 20 points.
Not everyone bought the “good pace, bad luck” line. Giedo van der Garde didn’t mince words on Viaplay. “Ouch! What a painful interview,” he said. “He’s completely lost. Firstly, he was lapped by his teammate. Secondly, he can say his pace was very good and that he was fast, but he was really very slow. Thirdly, that opening lap was a disaster.” The Dutchman’s verdict was blunt enough to sting: look in the mirror and accept it isn’t good enough.
That’s the dilemma. The paddock has been whispering for weeks that junior hotshoe Isack Hadjar is being lined up for the Red Bull seat. Tsunoda’s Baku run gave him a foothold in the argument; Singapore knocked his case back again. The political safety net is thin. If Red Bull goes young and bold, Tsunoda’s options look like a return to the sister outfit Racing Bulls or a Honda-aligned landing as Aston Martin reserve. Neither is the outcome he imagined when he climbed into one of the most coveted drives in the sport.
There’s still a driver in there — the one who put it on the third row in Baku and kept it there under pressure. But at this level, your CV is the last three Sundays. Right now, Tsunoda needs a repeat of that “clean sample” Mekies talked about, and he needs it quickly, because the seat he’s trying to keep isn’t a seat you keep with maybes.
The stakes, as ever in a Red Bull system that doesn’t dither, are brutally clear: either Tsunoda strings together tidy Saturdays and grown-up Sundays, or somebody else will.
