Yuki Tsunoda has explained that he currently has the full support of the Red Bull Formula 1 team, despite his increasingly difficult campaign with the Milton Keynes-based squad.
The Japanese driver has scored just seven points since joining the team in April, having taken the place of Liam Lawson alongside Max Verstappen.
His last top 10 finish came at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in May, and has since appeared to go backwards in his progress, having laboured to last place in Austria last week, finishing two laps down.
Red Bull has consistently been publicly offering Tsunoda support with Helmut Marko also confirming he would be given until the end of the season to improve.
However, the lack of improvement so far has seen speculation naturally generate that a potential promotion of Isack Hadjar to the seat is in the offing, further prompted by its junior driver Arvid Lindblad being handed an FIA super licence a year early.
But Tsunoda confirmed ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix that Marko and Red Bull boss Christian Horner have given him reason to feel secure.
“Definitely, yeah,” he said. “I mean, I feel definitely the support, especially these days and more than ever, from Christian, Helmut.
“I went to the south of the] UK with a physio [from] Red Bull Racing to kind of reset myself, and that was coming from them.
“They just wanted to have fresh air and everything. So that helps a lot to me to build up my rhythm.
“Also, we’re going to try a couple of things that I never tried, and they allow me to do quite a lot of things that probably they wouldn’t do in a normal case. So, yeah, definitely.”
Tsunoda: ‘Direct guy’ Marko ‘trusts my talent and speed’
Tsunoda further underlined Marko’s backing of him, the Austrian having recently ruled out a potential return for Liam Lawson.
The Kiwi had been replaced by Tsunoda after just two rounds earlier this year, and Marko commented that he was “completely exhausted” from his brief period with the main team.
Tsunoda insisted his relationship with Marko is good, and appreciates his no-holds-barred approach.
“Yes, rather than him saying probably going switch in two races or whatever, for sure,” he said. “But like I said, him and Christian are very supportive.
“He was not obviously happy with my race in Austria, but at the same time, he’s still willing to continuously help or support me.
“He still trusts my talent and the speed, so I just have to prove on track that I can do it.
“Helmut is just a direct guy. Some races if you do bad, he just tells me what was wrong and what was right. It’s a kind of pressure that he gives me.
“Sometimes brings me into the level that I never think about or extracts from me some performance.
“It’s just the way that he works since when I was a junior, and yeah, I appreciate the amount of support I’m getting so far.”
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