{"id":613097,"date":"2025-12-05T04:38:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T04:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/613097\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T04:38:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T04:38:15","slug":"f1-is-my-life-yuki-tsunoda-reacts-to-red-bulls-driver-decision-and-admits-he-has-not-yet-processed-losing-his-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/613097\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018F1 is my life\u2019 \u2013 Yuki Tsunoda reacts to Red Bull\u2019s driver decision and admits he has not yet processed losing his seat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yuki Tsunoda has given his first full reaction to the news that he will drop off the F1 grid in 2026, admitting it is \u201ctough\u201d to take but he is also yet to fully process the situation.<\/p>\n

Shortly after the Qatar Grand Prix weekend, Red Bull announced that Isack Hadjar is taking Tsunoda\u2019s place<\/a> next season, while F2 racer Arvid Lindblad is stepping up to partner Liam Lawson at Racing Bulls.<\/p>\n

Tsunoda, meanwhile, has been demoted to a test and reserve role for both Red Bull and Racing Bulls, meaning he falls off the grid some five years after his debut with the then-named AlphaTauri squad.<\/p>\n

Asked when he found out he would not be continuing with Red Bull, Tsunoda said: \u201cI heard after the race in Qatar. Obviously, I was disappointed. It\u2019s tough.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, I\u2019m not fully recognising or fully feeling it yet that I\u2019m not racing next year. It\u2019s surprising that I was kind of okay the next morning \u2013 I was thinking about Abu Dhabi. It\u2019s not ideal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019ve got to do here is exactly the same, what I was trying to do in Qatar. It\u2019s to be competitive as much as possible and ideally help Max [Verstappen] and finish as high as possible for myself and the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tsunoda started 2025 at Racing Bulls, having been overlooked for a Red Bull seat during the winter, but he finally got his chance at the senior team in a swap with Liam Lawson two rounds into the campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, the struggles Lawson and a long list of previous Red Bull drivers experienced alongside Verstappen were also seemingly felt by Tsunoda, who has endured a spate of early Qualifying exits and had to settle for occasional minor points.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not saying I don\u2019t have regret at all,\u201d said Tsunoda, pondering his early-season promotion. \u201cI\u2019m missing the Racing Bulls car, which part of the car I developed since the regulations started. Some DNA is in there and you throw out your baby. So, I missed that and kind of regret that.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, I don\u2019t mostly regret it. I kind of understand it why this seat is a little bit difficult, but at the same time I think, towards the end especially, the team gave me a lot of support.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think at the last few races, it looks like I\u2019m struggling, because sometimes I was exiting Q1. If you look at the result, it\u2019s a lot different, but I see consistently the difference between me and Max. I can\u2019t remember the last time I was four-and-a-half tenths back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pretty happy with it. I jumped in in the middle of the season, he drove this car for four years, and being this close is something [of a] different situation to a lot of drivers who were driving [here] before.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for what the future might hold alongside or beyond his F1 test and reserve duties, Tsunoda said: \u201cI leave it to my manager and I only think about Abu Dhabi. Let\u2019s see how it goes with the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be a new experience for me. The last few years I\u2019ve been racing. I will miss [it], for sure, but I think at the same time I can see a lot of new perspectives being inside both teams, learning a lot of things I never even imagined.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s be positive. I\u2019m just thinking about Abu Dhabi, and let\u2019s think about the future afterwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pushed on whether a move to a series such as IndyCar could be an option, he said: \u201cF1 is my life. It\u2019s too early stages [to think about anything else].<\/p>\n

\u201cFor now, the only motivation I have is F1. I\u2019m not really thinking about that competition for now, but I\u2019ll do as much as I can with any opportunity to make myself sharp.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yuki Tsunoda has given his first full reaction to the news that he will drop off the F1…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,12,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-613097","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115665115730160787","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613097","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=613097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}