Tsunoda: ‘Every race matters’ as Red Bull nears 2026 call — with Mexico circled
Yuki Tsunoda isn’t pretending the clock isn’t ticking. With Red Bull weighing up its 2026 line-up and Helmut Marko suggesting a decision “around Mexico,” the Japanese driver heads into Baku with a blunt assessment of his own reality: every lap from here counts.
“I heard today there are a lot of apparent speculation,” he shrugged ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. “I don’t know. The only thing I’m thinking about is just staying at Red Bull for next year… Every race is crucial this moment, that’s true. But I just keep delivering the results, showing some brightness every race, and let them decide what they want to do.”
Tsunoda’s promotion to Red Bull three rounds into 2025 was bold and very Red Bull — a mid-season swing to steady a tricky RB21 alongside Max Verstappen. The car has been a handful, even if Verstappen prised victories from it, including a timely win at Monza. Tsunoda’s Sundays, by contrast, have been lean: a handful of points finishes, nothing like the consistency he needs to make the seat a no-brainer.
And yet there’s no panic in his voice. If anything, there’s a quiet insistence that he and the team are piecing together the puzzle.
“The team worked hard to understand what’s the issue causing the long-run pace,” he said, hinting at gremlins that don’t show up in the data until the stints stretch. “In terms of short run, very happy with it. I think the team are very happy. It’s clear that I’m showing that race by race I’m getting closer to Max.”
Closer to Max is the only metric that really matters in that garage. Verstappen has confirmed he’s staying put, which locks the benchmark in place and magnifies the second-seat conversation. Red Bull’s decision window — with Mexico pencilled in — leaves a narrow runway. Tsunoda knows it. He’s just choosing not to sweat it.
“I’m not really thinking much about the future,” he added. “The only thing I’m thinking about is staying with Red Bull next year… I’m not really thinking much on the situation of going back to Racing Bulls or whatever. But if that happens, I’ll think about that, when that happens. It’s a team I stayed with for a lot of years… but at the same time, I moved on already to another chapter.”
There’s a subtext to all of this that the paddock won’t ignore. 2025 is Red Bull’s final year with Honda power before the Ford-backed Red Bull Powertrains project lands in 2026, while Honda switches allegiance to Aston Martin. Tsunoda’s rise was backed by Honda’s driver development ladder; it doesn’t define him, but the optics change as the partnership sunsets. That’s just the business.
There’s also pressure from within the Red Bull system. Isack Hadjar’s breakout podium at Zandvoort gave the talent pipeline a loud new data point, and Liam Lawson remains part of the conversation after his own early-season stint in the senior team. The Milton Keynes standard has always been ruthless continuity: you either force the decision with results or someone else does it for you.
Baku’s a decent place for Tsunoda to make a statement. Street tracks reward commitment, confidence on the brakes and a willingness to live with a nervous rear end — all things he’s shown in flashes this year, even if the scoreboard hasn’t been kind enough. If Red Bull can tame the car’s long-run drift, the Saturdays he’s happier with might finally translate into the Sundays he needs.
What does he need from here? Clean weekends. No drama. A couple of weighty points hauls before the Mexico bell rings. Red Bull doesn’t need perfect, it needs persuasive — evidence that the trend line is real and not wishful thinking.
Tsunoda’s made his case plainly. Now he has to underline it in black ink.
