{"id":3039,"date":"2025-04-05T06:47:14","date_gmt":"2025-04-05T06:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/3039\/"},"modified":"2025-04-05T06:47:14","modified_gmt":"2025-04-05T06:47:14","slug":"yuki-tsunodas-telling-first-red-bull-rb21-verdict-after-swapping-sim-for-real-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/3039\/","title":{"rendered":"Yuki Tsunoda’s telling first Red Bull RB21 verdict after swapping sim for\u00a0real\u00a0deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yuki Tsunoda got his first taste of the Red Bull RB21 in Friday practice at Suzuka, where he put in a commendable first showing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Having got the nod to step into Liam Lawson\u2019s vacated RB21 after the first two races of the F1 2025 season, Yuki Tsunoda fared well on his first day behind the wheel of a car that\u2019s established as being a tricky one to drive.<\/p>\n

Yuki Tsunoda aiming to \u2018build confidence\u2019 after \u2018a good start\u2019<\/p>\n

In the first practice session at Suzuka, spurred on by the cheers of his home crowd, Tsunoda finished in sixth place, hinting at an immediate gelling with the RB21 after driving last year\u2019s RB20 at the Abu Dhabi post-season test in December.<\/p>\n

Finishing just a tenth behind Max Verstappen\u2019s best laptime of the session, this was closer than Liam Lawson had managed to get during his first outings for the Milton Keynes-based squad and suggested that the Japanese driver was finding the RB21 more compliant to his driving demands.<\/p>\n

Verstappen set a best time of 1:29.065 from 23 laps, with Tsunoda putting in a 1:29.172 with 25 laps<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, FP1 was better than expected. A good start for myself,\u201d Tsunoda said after the day\u2019s action, his first day on-track as a Red Bull<\/a> F1 driver.<\/p>\n

In the second practice<\/a>, the impact of four red flag interruptions meant Tsunoda was never able to get in a representative time \u2013 a feat Verstappen only just managed to achieve during a brief period where the circuit was clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn FP2, I didn\u2019t set a lap time,\u201d Tsunoda said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there is a lot of work to do, maybe slightly struggled or something that we have to look through the data in FP2 more, but so far overall it\u2019s OK. I just have to build up my confidence more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having only had the chance to prepare for his Red Bull switch via simulator work at the team\u2019s technology campus in Milton Keynes, Tsunoda said it was clear the real-world handling of the RB21 was different from what he\u2019d encountered in the simulator.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit different to the simulator from what I felt, to be honest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA little bit more than I expected in terms of the car feeling. I knew anyway it was always going to be a bit different in the real car, and it was a little bit more exaggerated in the real car. It\u2019s feeling a bit\u00a0more\u00a0tricky.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we can say today was ok, but it could have been better. FP1 was better than FP2, I gained a lot more learnings. We didn\u2019t set a lap time in FP2 due to the number of stops in the session, you could maybe call the session a shambles for everyone. Overall, it is ok, and I am happy to have confidence in the car.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still have some work to do, and we have a lot to explore in the data before tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Red Bull seemingly competing with two on-form drivers this weekend, team advisor Helmut Marko was unable to hide a smile when he was asked about Tsunoda\u2019s pace by Sky Sports News.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cA very good day for Yuki and for all our youngsters,\u201d he said, having seen the two Racing Bulls also finish in the top five.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Isack] Hadjar did very well, and [Liam] Lawson recovered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having said during the week that Tsunoda will be given the Red Bull seat for the remainder of the F1 2025 championship, Marko was asked whether Tsunoda has shown the mettle to settle in and make the Red Bull seat his own.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe proved it today, yes,\u201d was his summation of the situation.<\/p>\n

Read Next: Liam Lawson recovery plan detailed after \u2018difficult to digest\u2019 Red Bull demotion<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yuki Tsunoda got his first taste of the Red Bull RB21 in Friday practice at Suzuka, where he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,227,225,858,12,226,14,860],"class_list":{"0":"post-3039","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-helmut-marko","10":"tag-home-page","11":"tag-japanese-grand-prix","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-red-bull","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-yuki-tsunoda"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114284019311970939","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}