Tsunoda adrift in Abu Dhabi as Red Bull future closes: “I don’t know what’s going on”
There are cleaner ways to end a season, and then there’s Yuki Tsunoda’s final Friday as a Red Bull race driver. One second off Max Verstappen in FP2, 17th on the timesheets, and openly baffled by an RB21 that gave him no grip and fewer answers.
“I didn’t expect it to be this challenging, to be honest,” he said after climbing out at Yas Marina. “Just too far away. I don’t know what’s going on.”
The timing only sharpens the edge. Red Bull confirmed earlier this week that Tsunoda won’t have a race seat in 2026, with Isack Hadjar signed to partner Verstappen. Over at Racing Bulls, Arvid Lindblad steps up from F2 to join Liam Lawson. Tsunoda, who has long carried Honda’s backing through the programme, is set for a test-and-reserve role next year.
This was supposed to be his chance to sign off with some sting. Instead, the RB21 snapped and slid under him for most of Friday as the track cooled into the evening. “I didn’t feel much comfortable, let’s be honest,” he added. “The car, I just kept sliding around, so we have to find out why and what’s causing this issue. Not really good.”
On raw pace, it was a rough readout. Tsunoda ended FP2 almost a second adrift of Verstappen and ahead only of Lawson and the two Alpines of Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly. The deficit, he admitted, was “one of the worst in the season.”
It fits a wider, inconvenient pattern. Since stepping into Red Bull’s senior team after the Japanese Grand Prix in April—displacing Lawson—Tsunoda has only scored points seven times. There have been flashes: brisk laps in Q1s, a few stubborn defensive drives. But the consistent, point-hauling middle ground Red Bull expected hasn’t materialised often enough, and Fridays like this don’t help the argument.
The personal side of it isn’t subtle. Tsunoda revealed he was told of the 2026 decision directly after the Qatar Grand Prix, privately, by Helmut Marko. “Obviously, I’m disappointed, and pissed off,” he said. But in typical Yuki fashion, the defences went up fast: “Surprisingly, I’m OK. I’m surviving okay. The morning after, I ordered breakfast as usual, the same food.”
What stings is the lack of alternatives. Tsunoda admitted contract terms limited his ability to test the market while Red Bull deliberated. “I didn’t have options,” he said. “I had a couple of interests externally, but my contract doesn’t really allow me to talk a lot with them. So that’s why I was really focused on Red Bull and, anyway, it was my priority for the last few years. This is where I grew up.”
There’s also the weight of the weekend itself. Abu Dhabi marks the final race of Red Bull’s hugely successful run with Honda—Tsunoda’s long-time backer and a partnership that returned both championships to Milton Keynes. From 2026, Red Bull will race its in-house Powertrains unit in collaboration with Ford, while Honda will move across to Aston Martin. It’s a changing of the guard and a complex one emotionally for the guy in the middle of it.
If there’s a silver lining for Tsunoda, it’s that Red Bull’s 2026 programme is vast and demanding. A driver with recent race mileage, strong feedback, and years inside the Honda-Red Bull system is a useful tool in the simulator and on test days, especially with a new power unit and aero set to reshape the grid. The question is whether that can act as a springboard—or a holding pattern.
Before any of that, though, he needs a reset overnight. The Yas Marina layout is infamous for punishing a car that’s slightly out of window: overheating rears in Sectors 1 and 2, then the low-speed, traction-heavy corners of Sector 3 exposing any balance disconnect. If setup work between FP2 and FP3 doesn’t unlock some front grip and rear support, qualifying could be a long watch.
Tsunoda’s been here before—out of rhythm on Friday, snarling on Saturday, and in the points by Sunday. He’ll need all of that sharper, scrappier version to show up now. Because while the decision for 2026 is done, the paddock remembers strong goodbyes. And for a driver who insists he’s still processing the whole thing, there’s no better way to make his point than with a clean lap when the sun drops, the lights come on, and every mistake shows.
