Yuki Tsunoda has revealed that he is not as involved as Max Verstappen in Red Bull’s 2026 development work amid his uncertain position with the team in Formula 1.
Verstappen has a contract until 2028, but it hasn’t been decided who will be alongside him in the main Red Bull team and who will race with sister squad Racing Bulls.
Red Bull’s top brass had intended to resolve that prior to this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix, but it was disclosed post-race in Mexico that timeline has been revised.
That comes amid Red Bull’s desire to place undivided attention on the current campaign, where an on-track resurgence has propelled Verstappen into title contention.
But while the team has continued to upgrade the RB21, Red Bull has balanced that alongside its work on the extensive regulation change coming to the sport in 2026.
And with no guarantee that he will retain his place, Tsunoda has admitted he is less knowledgeable about Red Bull’s future development direction than his team-mate.
“I would say probably not as much [involvement] as Max, at all,” Tsunoda told media including Motorsport Week.
“No, I’m just fully focused now for the current year, 2025, and that’s it.
“I have to maximise every race. I’m sure he’ll give me more feedback for next year’s car and everything.
“But what I’m doing now is a completely different situation to him, and I have to keep performing in these coming races. No, I would say I’m just focusing on this race.”
Tsunoda getting closer to Verstappen’s level at Red Bull
Despite a slow pitstop costing him points in Mexico, Tsunoda departed the weekend encouraged that he had been closer to Verstappen’s pace than in previous races.
And having been granted more time to stake his claim to the drive alongside the Dutchman, the Japanese driver is bidding to build on that improved showing in Brazil.
“It’s always building confidence and confidence what I have is better than ever, something that I’m trying to understand race by race, step by step,” he explained.
“The gap was small, very close between me and Max in Mexico.
“It doesn’t mean you have to be exactly the same, like we know he’s always a super driver and how he extracts performance from the car is incredible.
“I try to follow his trajectory every race how he extracts performance and learn from that, it’s not easy, but I’ll do my best.
“It’s not the first time I’ve been close, well probably the first time I’ve been close in both races, short run and long run.
“Some other races I had a very close short run in other races multiple times, Mexico was a race where both sessions were together so it was a good sign.
“I try to keep doing that and let’s see how it goes.”
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