Headline: Under the radar, over the limit: Tsunoda’s perfectly judged tow tees up Verstappen’s Abu Dhabi pole
Yuki Tsunoda’s Saturday in Abu Dhabi had all the ingredients of a meltdown: a pit-lane scrape, hurried repairs, a downgrade to an old-spec floor — then a call to become a human windbreak for Max Verstappen in Q3. Instead, he walked the tightrope and didn’t flinch.
In the title-deciding dusk, Red Bull rolled the dice with an old-school tactic. Tsunoda was told to lead Verstappen down Yas Marina’s long straights and punch a hole in the air. No rehearsal, no second takes. He had to be close enough to tow, but not so close he’d flood Verstappen’s RB21 with dirty air through the fast corners. Down to Turn 5, across the marina and up to the reprofiled Turn 9, Tsunoda hit his marks, then peeled off at the last split-second. Verstappen’s banker was instantly pole-worthy; his second lap underlined it. Job done.
“Very stressful,” Tsunoda admitted afterwards. “Max can’t be very close into Turn 5, can’t be very far either. But at least I nailed it, and the team gave me some compliments. I’ll take it.”
It was the kind of orchestration teams usually practice on Fridays. Red Bull didn’t. That’s why it drew nods inside the garage; high risk, high reward. And for Verstappen, who’s built a season on extracting the maximum, it was the perfect slingshot at exactly the right moment.
The prelude was anything but clean. Earlier, Kimi Antonelli was released into Tsunoda’s path in the pit lane — a brush that triggered repairs and left Mercedes with a €10,000 fine for an unsafe release. The bigger cost landed on Tsunoda’s side of the paddock. With the clock ticking, Red Bull reverted his car to an older floor. In this era of razor-thin margins, that’s a meaningful penalty.
“After the Antonelli collision, I had to revert back to the old floor,” Tsunoda said. “It cost me quite a lot of performance into qualifying. I expected it to be difficult.”
Even so, he hustled the car into Q3 and parked it ninth. Not headline-grabbing, but given the circumstances — and the wingman brief that came with it — it was sharp, tidy work. If you’re Red Bull, it’s the kind of all-field contribution you want in a straight fight for the championship: clear air for your lead car, a points option for the other.
And the timing? Impeccable. Verstappen’s pole lap, delivered as the light faded and the track came to life, set a line in the sand McLaren didn’t quite clear. On a night when both title protagonists needed a foothold, Red Bull found one. The reigning champion will go to the grid with control of Turn 1, and a teammate who proved he can choreograph the margins at 300 km/h.
There’s a personal note here too. This is Tsunoda’s final race as a Red Bull race driver before moving into a reserve role in 2026. He’s had flashier afternoons; this one was more subtle, more deliberate — the kind that earns quiet respect in a debrief. It wasn’t flawless preparation, it wasn’t clean air, and it definitely wasn’t simple. But it was effective when it mattered.
Old-school teamwork. New-spec pressure. And a tow delivered to the metre. Abu Dhabi’s decider already had drama baked in. Tsunoda just gave it a twist.
