Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda focused on himself amid uncertainty around his future
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Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda is focused on himself amid questions about his future with the six-time Formula One world champions.
ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
Follow topic:
- Yuki Tsunoda faces uncertainty over his Red Bull seat beyond 2025 amid speculation and pressure to perform.
- The Japanese is focused on improving his performance, especially in the Singapore Grand Prix, despite challenges adapting to the team.
- Lewis Hamilton is racing in Singapore after the death of his dog, Roscoe, and is grateful for the overwhelming support he has received.
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SINGAPORE – Talk is swirling about drivers’ futures as the Formula One season heads into its final stretch, with only seven rounds remaining.
Among those with a question mark hanging over his future is Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda, who is out of contract after 2025.
The Japanese, who sits 17th in the drivers’ standings on 20 points, has had a mixed campaign since his promotion from Racing Bulls in March, sparking rumours over who will take Red Bull’s second seat next season.
Tsunoda’s former Racing Bulls (RB) teammate Isack Hadjar, who finds himself ninth in the standings amid an impressive rookie season, is a strong contender, but all Tsunoda wants to do is block out the noise and focus on himself.
“It’s something that every driver gets, every team gets, and it’s the thing that you always have in this Formula One environment,” said Tsunoda, 25, in an interview with The Straits Times ahead of the Oct 3-5 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix.
“I’ve had this since the first year and I got used to it and for me, as long as my target is clear and knowing what I have to do in each race, those things will disappear once I wear my helmet. So I don’t have much concern that those things will affect my performance.”
While he is living his dream racing for Red Bull, the transition has been a steep learning curve for Tsunoda, who made the step up from their sister team after the Chinese Grand Prix in March, replacing Liam Lawson, with the Kiwi going the other way after enduring a difficult start to the season.
Since joining the six-time constructors’ champions, he has finished in the points on five occasions and earned 17 points, with his best performance coming in the most recent grand prix in Azerbaijan, where he placed sixth.
Reflecting on the season, Tsunoda said: “It’s definitely one of the most challenging seasons ever, but it definitely makes me improve a lot as a driver and a human and understanding how I love the challenge.
“In the recent races, it’s been going in the right direction. It was not straightforward to improve the areas I was lacking in, which I was struggling to find, but it’s starting to show better in recent races. So I’m enjoying the season so far.”
He also opened up about the pressure that comes with driving for a team like Red Bull, with the increased scrutiny and media spotlight.
Tsunoda said: “The biggest surprise was pressure – the amount of media and people looking at this team, there’s a lot of pressure you have.
“There are a lot of things I learnt from coming to this team, but what I was struggling with was adapting to the driving style, to this kind of car and also driving next to Max (Verstappen) is pretty hard.
“At the same time, you need to extract performance from the car... but getting results was pretty difficult.”
But one thing he has learnt about himself in this tough season is that he enjoys the challenge.
Looking to build on his Baku performance, Tsunoda’s focus is now on Singapore.
He said: “All I’m thinking about now is to extract performance as much as possible, score points and just give my best.
“That’s the only mindset I have and all I’m thinking about now is Singapore and I know that if I’m able to give my best, things will naturally come.”
Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton, a four-time winner in Singapore, is looking forward to racing in the Republic.
ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
Also eager to get racing in the Republic is Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, whose English bulldog Roscoe, 12, died of pneumonia on Sept 29.
On the support he has received after Roscoe’s death, the British seven-time world champion said: “There’ve been lots of messages, it’s been overwhelming to be honest to see how many people Roscoe touched around the world and really heart-warming to receive (the messages).
“I’ve not been able to reply to everybody, but he was the most important thing in my life and it was a difficult experience.
“I know so many people in the world have gone through it and know what it’s like to have a pet that just gives you such amazing love and it’s an amazing experience.
“But I’m really just looking forward to getting back in the car and doing what I love here.”
