{"id":37489,"date":"2025-09-30T05:32:37","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T09:32:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=37489"},"modified":"2025-09-30T05:32:37","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T09:32:37","slug":"tsunoda-skill-at-level-of-top-drivers-says-vcarb-team-principal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/09\/30\/tsunoda-skill-at-level-of-top-drivers-says-vcarb-team-principal\/","title":{"rendered":"Tsunoda skill at level of “top drivers” says VCARB team principal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yuki Tsunoda picked up his best Red Bull<\/a> result at the Baku GP, crossing the line in 6th place. Given the struggles Tsunoda has encountered at the Milton Keynes squad, his performance last weekend in Baku was encouraging.<\/p>\n

The Japanese driver received the same floor specification as Verstappen in Azerbaijan, which was not the case in Monza<\/a>. Based on the RB21’s pace in the last two Grand Prix, this update could be transformative.<\/p>\n

Red Bull will hope to confirm their progression at this weekend’s Singapore GP, a circuit with very different characteristics to Monza and Baku. For Tsunoda, the eighteenth round of the year is a chance to build on his latest result.<\/p>\n

Something the 25-year-old can draw from from is the support he is receiving from Red Bull. He is also very highly rated at VCARB, with team principal Alan Permane singing his praises.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Yuki Tsunoda in Baku, Azerbaijan. (Photo by Mark Thompson\/Getty Images) \/\/ Getty Images \/ Red Bull Content Pool<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Permane reveals Tsunoda ‘surprise’<\/h2>\n

For all the changes and uncertainties regarding Red Bull’s drivers, there have been no shortage of changes to the team’s hierarchy. The dismissal of Christian Horner<\/a> led to the promotion of Laurent Mekies, whose impact at the senior squad has been near instantaneous.<\/p>\n

His engineering background has allowed Mekies to usher in a series of changes to the procedures at Milton Keynes. Red Bull’s preparation for set-up work, for example, is far less contingent on the simulator.<\/p>\n

It has been known for some time that the team’s simulator does not accurately correlate with the actual data from the track. In this sense, relying more on driver feedback and the independent analysis of engineers has been integral.<\/p>\n

Of course, Mekies’ presence at Red Bull left a vacancy at VCARB<\/a>. This gap was filled by Alan Permane, who joined the Faenza team in 2024 after spending more than two decades at Alpine.<\/p>\n

Permane has experience with all of Red Bull’s driving talent (except Verstappen) and so is well-placed to analyse their potential. When asked about Yuki Tsunoda<\/a>, Permane was full of praise for the 25-year-old:<\/p>\n

“His speed, for one thing [surprised him]. I didn\u2019t know Yuki at all before I started with the team in \u201924. And I was immediately impressed by him.<\/em><\/p>\n

“By his pace, by how he can handle the tyres, his qualifying pace. How he could get on top of the tyres as quickly as he did to extract the most out of the car in qualifying.<\/em><\/p>\n

“That was the very first thing that surprised me. And honestly, his feedback, and the way he is in the car, the way he drives – the way he is out of the car, are really in line with the top drivers.<\/em><\/p>\n

“He’s a great driver. And honestly, that was a little bit of a – let\u2019s say it was a surprise.”<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Yuki Tsunoda in Baku, Azerbaijan. (Photo by Clive Rose\/Getty Images) \/\/ Getty Images \/ Red Bull Content Pool<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now or never for Tsunoda<\/h4>\n

A final decision on who will partner Max Verstappen, and which drivers will drive for Racing Bulls, is expected after the Mexican GP.<\/p>\n

This gives Tsunoda, alongside Hadjar and Lawson, the next three races before their fates for 2026 are decided. It will be intriguing to observe how Red Bull approach their selection under the management of Laurent Mekies.<\/p>\n

The Fenchman is almost certain to have a different philosophy than his predecessor, especially since Mekies has worked directly with all of Red Bull’s drivers. The extent to which Helmut Marko<\/a> will influence the final decision could also be critical.<\/p>\n

In any case, the pressure is on for Red Bull’s drivers, whose futures will be determined over the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

Main photo: Rudy Carezzevoli\/Getty Images (Red Bull content pool)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yuki Tsunoda picked up his best Red Bull result at the Baku GP, crossing the line in 6th place. Given the struggles Tsunoda has encountered at the Milton Keynes squad, his performance last weekend in Baku was encouraging. The Japanese driver received the same floor specification as Verstappen in Azerbaijan, which was not the case […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":37491,"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":[2168,2452,1581],"class_list":["post-37489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-alan-permane","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-yuki-tsunoda"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37489","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=37489"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37498,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37489\/revisions\/37498"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}