Jon Noble: An unfair perception or a genuine concern? Lifting the lid on Red Bull’s Tsunoda scepticism

“Maybe pole position and podiums in every race…. whatever.” 

That was Yuki Tsunoda’s response to a question this writer posed to him a couple of weeks ago as we discussed what he felt was really needed to prove just how good he is. 

Despite the statistics that have shown him outqualify his most recent team-mates (8-2 versus Nyck de Vries, 16-9 versus Daniel Ricciardo and 10-1 versus Liam Lawson), and out-score them (2-0 de Vries, 37-18 Ricciardo and 8-6 Lawson), he knows the raw numbers have never been what people are judging him on.

Instead, as he now faces yet more disappointment in being overlooked for the Red Bull seat in 2025 – and this surely must have been his last chance – he thinks his biggest issue is perhaps something entirely outside of his control: an image problem. 

He suspects that a disappointing run of form in his rookie campaign – where he failed to deliver on a shining debut in Bahrain – may have counted against him and that has stuck. 

“I think part of it is kind of my fault, that I wasn't really able to perform straight away in the first year,” he said about the fuel of the external scepticism of him. “It kind of creates a bit of an image of who I am, even though the struggles I had in the first year, I wouldn't say, to be honest, were really my fault.

Tsunoda impressed on his AlphaTauri [now RB] debut in Bahrain in 2021, but failed to kick on that year

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

“After I changed chassis in the middle of the season, it got much, much better. Until then, I didn't feel fully comfortable with the car and was just really slip-sliding, it was hard to be on the track and hard to even perform well. And that's why it looks really bad, because I was consistently out of Q1. Then suddenly I changed chassis, and I was always in Q3. So there's a bit of argument that there's a bit of reason.  

“Then this year, some races, even though I was performing well, I feel like I didn't really get the credit as much as probably other drivers get.

“But it is what it is. Whatever. I will just naturally keep doing what I'm doing and performing well and just prove them wrong.” 

"I think part of it is kind of my fault, that I wasn't really able to perform straight away in the first year" 
Yuki Tsunoda

While Red Bull accepts that Tsunoda has the talent and speed to justify a chance at the main squad, there are two areas that have long been singled out as concerns that have counted against him in their choice of going for Lawson. 

The first is his technical feedback, amid some doubts about whether Tsunoda can offer the depth that is now essential to extract the most out of the current cars. 

Then there is also the element of his personality – with his infamous emotional radio messages perhaps leaving some to question if that is the right temperament needed when battling for world championships. 

On the technical front, there seems to have been a bit of a softening of this criticism after his recent Red Bull test in Abu Dhabi – where he specifically focused on making sure that he delivered exactly what the team needed.

Tsunoda was able to show off his technical prowess during the Abu Dhabi post-season test

Photo by: Ronald Vording

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner made reference to this when speaking about the reasons why the squad picked Lawson over the Japanese this week. 

“Yuki is a very fast driver,” Horner told ESPN. “He's got three or four seasons of experience now. He did a very good job in the tyre test for us in Abu Dhabi where the engineers were impressed with how he performed. 

“With Liam, when you look and go into the analytics of his race, pace was slightly better in the races that he did. His qualifying pace was very tight with Yuki, and you've got to assume that the potential with Liam having only done 11 grands prix, is he's only going to get better and stronger. He's shown real mental resilience and toughness.” 

That last sentence again suggests that Tsunoda, while fast, does not have some of the character robustness that Red Bull want to see. 

But the observations from the outside are not necessarily the same as those inside. Those who have worked closely with Tsunoda suggest that, while he is far from perfect, things are very different from what some claim them to be. 

RB’s racing director Alan Permane, who as a veteran of F1 has worked with some of the best in the business, is clear about what he has seen. Asked about these outside perceptions of Tsunoda being emotionally fragile and not great with his feedback, Permane said: “I must admit, I was guilty of that coming in.  

“Of course, there are inconsistencies he needs to sharpen up, plenty of areas he needs to polish, but he’s what, 24? He’s a young kid still, so he’s got plenty of time to do that. And he knows what he needs to work on.    

Permane has conceded he was guilty of holding a prior perception of Tsunoda's character before joining RB

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

“You can hear and see him getting frustrated with himself when he makes those errors. But the speed is there, of that there’s no doubt.  He’s very quick and his feedback is excellent, his English is excellent. I don’t know if that has been a limitation in the past, but I don’t see any limitation there at all and he’s a joy to work with, he really is.”   

Permane accepts that there remain times when Tsunoda does let the emotions beat him, but this is something that is being worked on – and he took a lot from observing how someone like Ricciardo isolated his anger when things did not go right on track. 

“When he gets frustrated, he then gets frustrated at himself for getting frustrated! He knows it, and he’s working hard on that,”  Permane added. “And you’re right, Daniel does that and all the good ones do. 

"When he gets frustrated, he then gets frustrated at himself for getting frustrated! He knows it, and he’s working hard on that" 
Alan Permane

“I said to him: ‘Listen to Oscar [Piastri] on the radio. He’s in his second year and he never gets flustered or anything like that. And he’s clearly very quick. You don’t hear Lando [Norris] getting frustrated – or you rarely hear him getting frustrated – and that’s the level you need to get to.’

“One of the things we did was play back the Brazil race, a massively intense situation and GP [GianPiero Lambiase] and Max are just like they’re having a cup of coffee in the afternoon together. That’s the benchmark and all that information is out there for these guys to work on. 

“It’s one of the areas we’re working on with him.  It’s another little piece. There are hundreds of things they need to do and that’s just one small area. But he’s right in spotting that when things aren’t going well, he just needs to come in and download.”    

Key to improving yourself in life is understanding your weaknesses and then working hard to improve them. Tsunoda feels that in those areas where people doubt him, he has made some solid gains this year – but accepts he still needs to do more. 

Norris and Piastri have been used as examples for Tsunoda to follow

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

“I would say the communications side got improved, mainly on the radio, but also the language and behaviour,” he said. “I would say, the calmness is also definitely improved, more technical feedback, more focused. I can definitely feel the improvement throughout the year.” 

It has not been enough to earn him a place at Red Bull for 2025 though. However, even a few weeks ago, Tsunoda interestingly suggested that deep down he never felt he was in the frame. Asked if he was calm about the situation, as Red Bull suggested he was a contender, Tsunoda offered some thoughts… 

“To be honest, what they say, [in the] media and everything, I don't really trust,” he said. “Even when they said: ‘Yuki is in the mix.’ I never know if it was true or not, or if it was just to support me. But it’s pointless to think about these things. Is it actually about me, or whatever? Those things I can't control, and it's been a talk since the first race. 

“I will just keep on performing. I think the results I'm showing so far this season, I think I'm proving enough that I should be in that seat, or at least be in the candidate seat. I just need to [give them] less excuse or reasons that they point out that: ‘oh, this is the why reason you are not in the seat.’

“So I just focus on what I can control. Other than that, I just accept the situation and let them decide. But I'm sure I can do a better job than what they thinking.”

What does the future hold for Tsunoda after his snub?

Photo by: Dom Romney / Motorsport Images