Yuki Tsunoda believes he has what it takes to beat Max Verstappen once he is more acquainted with how to extract the potential from Red Bull’s 2025 Formula 1 car.
Tsunoda is gearing up to embark on his third race weekend with Red Bull in Saudi Arabia since being promoted from Racing Bulls to replace the ousted Liam Lawson.
Having endured disappointment on home soil in Japan, Tsunoda sustained a more productive outing in Bahrain as he translated a Q3 appearance into a points return.
But while Red Bull has trusted him with providing support to Verstappen’s championship aspirations, Tsunoda has indicated that he senses more could be achievable.
Indeed, Tsunoda harbours optimism that he can challenge his established team-mate once he is habituated to the quirks embedded within Red Bull’s capricious RB21.
“It’s my first time driving a completely different car,” Tsunoda highlighted.
“I only drove with VCARB for the last four years, so it’s the first time I drove a completely different team’s car.
“I’m trying to use that, and I know that if I unlock that area, I would be able to probably beat him.
“I know myself that I can’t beat him straight away, so I’m just trying to build a good baseline and wait for the moment that I can be in the shape, yeah.”
Tsunoda still decoding Red Bull RB21
Tsunoda divulged that he was still deciphering how to unlock the raw speed from Red Bull’s 2025 machine compared to the more benign car he drove at Racing Bulls.
“I’m just trying to understand how this car operates, how this car performs well,” he elaborated. “I think I’m not really understanding even half of it.
“These things are the key that I’m trying to work really hard on to understand as soon as possible, so I can work on different sort of stuff – all sorts of development and whatever.
“So far, I’m able to kind of put it all together in the qualifying and the race, but also at the same time it’s quite up and down.
“There’s a bit of up and down from FP1 to FP3. So I just want to be more consistent throughout.”
Tsunoda’s Verstappen observation
Tsunoda pinpointed that his initial experience alongside Verstappen has enabled him to observe how the Dutchman progresses his pace as a race weekend develops.
“I knew how Max builds throughout the week, builds the confidence throughout the week, compared to how I build the confidence throughout the week,” he stated.
“It’s completely different because he already has massive confidence in this car. So I just make it separate and try to nail it down in qualifying.”
READ MORE – Yuki Tsunoda details drastic differences between Racing Bulls and Red Bull F1 cars
