{"id":35878,"date":"2025-07-12T04:50:01","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T08:50:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=35878"},"modified":"2025-07-12T04:50:01","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T08:50:01","slug":"red-bull-noticing-an-improvement-in-yuki-tsunoda-marko","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/07\/12\/red-bull-noticing-an-improvement-in-yuki-tsunoda-marko\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Bull “Noticing an Improvement” in Yuki Tsunoda – Marko"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yuki Tsunoda missed out on points for a fourth consecutive time in Silverstone, cementing his toughest patch since joining Red Bull. As he works to rediscover his form, Helmut Marko<\/a> outlines why he still believes the 24-year-old can turn things around.<\/p>\n

Red Bull “optimistic” about Tsunoda, says Marko<\/h2>\n

When Tsunoda first joined Red Bull, his performances in the RB21<\/a> were solid.<\/p>\n

It was overly ambitious tyre selection, rather than a lack of pace, that prevented the Japanese driver from making Q3 in Suzuka.<\/p>\n

In a race where overtakes where virtually non-existent, Tsunoda missed out on the chance to score points.<\/p>\n

At the next round in Bahrain, however, he finished an impressive P9 after making it into Q3.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Yuki Tsunoda during the F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain. (Photo by Zak Mauger\/LAT Images) \/\/ Getty Images \/ Red Bull Content Pool<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Given that Verstappen could only manage 7th at the Sakhir circuit, the Japanese driver was adapting well to life at Red Bull<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Arguably Tsunoda’s most promising weekend – ironically – is one where he only completed one lap on Sunday, in Jeddah.<\/p>\n

Prior to his lap one incident, however, the #22 car’s qualifying pace was legitimate. Even with a massive error in his final Q3 run, Tsunoda was fast enough to be amongst the other top teams.<\/p>\n

However, the last four rounds have been difficult for the 24-year-old.<\/p>\n

His qualifying incident in Imola – which ruined his floor and forced him to run an old specification for several races – compromised his momentum in the RB21.<\/p>\n

Still, in his Speedweek<\/a> column, Helmut Marko stressed that Tsunoda is still capable of results:<\/p>\n

“Yuki Tsunoda has struggled on some GP weekends, but we already saw an upward trend in England [Silverstone].<\/em><\/p>\n

“The gap to Max was smaller than before in most of the free practice sessions, and he was able to start from eleventh place on the grid in England.<\/em><\/p>\n

“We’ve had intensive discussions with Yuki; he also works with sports psychologists.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Unfortunately, like Max, he had no chance in the race with this [low-downforce] wing.<\/em><\/p>\n

“But we’re noticing an improvement in performance, and we’re optimistic that this will soon be reflected in the points.”<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Yuki Tsunoda during the F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain. (Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli\/Getty Images) \/\/ Getty Images \/ Red Bull Content Pool<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A chance to reset in Belgium<\/h4>\n

In many ways, Tsunoda’s abrupt Red Bull arrival was the consequence of the team’s indecisive upper management.<\/p>\n

Christian Horner<\/a>, who was always more doubtful of Tsunoda than Helmut Marko, pushed to promote Lawson at the end of 2024.<\/p>\n

This decision, which Red Bull immediately regretted, meant that Tsunoda joined the team in very awkward circumstances.<\/p>\n

The RB21, like its predecessors, is a very difficult car to manage.<\/p>\n

Without any pre-season testing (especially since Red Bull’s simulator does not accurately replicate the RB21), the 24-year-old’s task was going to be even more difficult.<\/p>\n

Verstappen and Tsunoda’s<\/a> aggressive rear wing usage in Silverstone – which compromised them massively on a wet race day – is evidence of the extreme solutions Red Bull are pursuing.<\/p>\n

Thankfully for Tsunoda, his new team principal worked with him before at Racing Bulls<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Laurent Mekies rates the Japanese driver very highly, meaning no driver swaps are expected before the end of 2025.<\/p>\n

The next round in Belgium, for many reasons, is a chance for Red Bull to change the narrative.<\/p>\n

At a circuit like Spa, which should suit the RB21, the Milton Keynes outfit will look to bounce back and kick-start a new era.<\/p>\n

Main photo: Andy Hone\/LAT Images (via Red Bull content pool)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yuki Tsunoda missed out on points for a fourth consecutive time in Silverstone, cementing his toughest patch since joining Red Bull. As he works to rediscover his form, Helmut Marko outlines why he still believes the 24-year-old can turn things around. Red Bull “optimistic” about Tsunoda, says Marko When Tsunoda first joined Red Bull, his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":35880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2452,610,78,2394],"class_list":["post-35878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-helmut-marko","tag-red-bull-racing","tag-tsunoda"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35878"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35885,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35878\/revisions\/35885"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}