Winner of the day: Tsunoda proves point to Red Bull
Red Bull Contentpool
F1 News
A big smile was visible on the face of Racing Bulls Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda in the mixed zone. In fifth place, he put his car for the Australian Grand Prix, well ahead of Liam Lawson who was favoured to make the switch to Red Bull Racing. That can safely be considered a victory for Tsunoda.
Liam Lawson's name did not drop in the brief conversation with the media, including GPblog. But in his mind, Tsunoda must have felt he'd proven a point to Red Bull Racing, who regarded Lawson as the better fit to step up to the main team alonside Verstappen for the 2025 season. Of course, the New Zealander had problems on Saturday morning which sidelined him during FP3. Nevertheless, a Red Bull car is supposed to come out of Q1.
Tsunoda confident for the season
The test days in Bahrain were fine, the opening day in Melbourne was excellent and so too was the case during qualifying, Racing Bulls' car proved fast enough to even compete at the top. "I was enjoying a lot," says Tsunoda logically, who realises that the midfield is also going to be very close in 2025. "I knew that if I made a good, amazing lap, it could be very good."
For Tsunoda, the current performance of the Racing Bulls car gives confidence for the rest of the season. "It's still early days," the Japanese driver also says. "I was surprised that we had good pace [after Bahrain]. But we are ready to fight for the rest of the season."
This article was written in collaboration with Ludo van Denderen.
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