Yuki Tsunoda has said that Red Bull “having a war” within the team’s ranks contributed to his exit from Formula 1 after the 2025 season.
The Japanese racing driver’s fifth full-time season in F1 might as well have been his last after getting the axe from the Milton Keynes-based outfit.
Tsunoda, who was promoted alongside Max Verstappen two races into 2025, only managed to score 33 points for the team over the course of the season.
That said, he still was “disappointed” when told he will not be retained by Red Bull as a driver – instead relegated to a reserve role for 2026.
“Obviously I was disappointed,” Tsunoda said. “I’m not fully recognising or fully feeling it yet, that I’m not racing next year.”
The Honda-backed driver surmised that being team-mates with the likes of Verstappen had already set him on the back foot while jostling to get the team around him.
“Maybe Max being the best driver in the grid is not helping the second driver, probably,” he examined.
“As a historic [situation] because normally he’s fighting for the championship. The team want to prioritise the guy who’s fighting for championship, that’s normal.”
Tsunoda’s early days at the main team also coincided with Christian Horner’s dismissal as Team Principal and CEO.
Outgoing advisor Helmut Marko had recently hinted at how the team’s atmosphere had become divisive in the Briton’s latter years.
Tsunoda backed up these claims, crediting it for derailing his progress and making life “pretty difficult” for the 25-year-old.
“For my situation, probably I was jumping into this team almost in the time that internally they’re having a war,” added Tsunoda. “That was pretty difficult.”
Tsunoda is ‘proud’ of what he has achieved despite Red Bull F1 axe
Up until the halfway point in the season, Tsunoda was consigned to a somewhat B-spec RB21, with a catalogue of upgrades fitted to Verstappen’s car instead.
However, with Laurent Mekies’ arrival, the Japanese driver found some parity with the Dutchman in terms of outright package.
Since then, Tsunoda lapped within proximity to the four-time World Champion; however, on the wrong end of the 2025 grid’s tight margins.
“[Having] one of the tightest fields in the grid wasn’t any help,” he explained.
“Maybe I was exiting Q1 sometimes and he [Verstappen] was most of the time in Q3 obviously and top three or whatever, so if you look at that result it does look bad.”
Therefore, despite not being retained by the team, the 25-year-old was categorical that he was proud of everything he has achieved with the team. And looking forward into next season, he will do everything he can to ensure the team moves in the right direction forward.
“But at the same time if you just look at the gap consistently, I can’t remember the last time I was five tenths behind or four-and-a-half tenths behind,” Tsunoda asserted.
“I’m proud of what I’ve done and I’m sure things will go in the right direction for next year as a whole team.”
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