Yuki Tsunoda is prepared for the hardest job in motorsports. Or, a minimum of, he believes he’s. At 24, with 4 seasons in System 1 plus a robust begin to 2025 below his belt, he’s better-prepared for this chance than the person he changed, former teammate Liam Lawson, and backs himself to thrive even if partnering Max Verstappen at Purple Bull Racing is regarded by most as profession poison.
Tsunoda has nothing to lose. This was destined to be his final yr within the Racing Bulls fold, with Purple Bull group principal Christian Horner saying final December that after 5 years in what he known as the “assist group,” there comes a degree the place “you’ve both acquired to allow them to go at that time or take a look at one thing totally different.” Tsunoda has proved himself worthy of a seat on the F1 grid, however alternatives are restricted for ’26 if Purple Bull’s B-team doesn’t retain him. The leap to Purple Bull presents a chance to vary the route of his profession, and even perhaps set up himself in a front-running group for the long run.
It’s a giant ask, provided that not solely is he being pitched right into a seat regarded by most because the hardest in F1 but in addition doing so with no prior expertise of the automotive, two races right into a season, and for his house grand prix. The devotion of the house crowd and the need of circuit proprietor Honda for him to thrive means the strain can be intense, and the way Tsunoda offers with that might set him up for fulfillment or failure at Purple Bull. He’ll get greater than the ludicrous two weekends afforded to Lawson, however the die will seemingly be forged someway at Suzuka. Purple Bull will quickly flip its consideration to figuring out a substitute for ’26 if Tsunoda doesn’t persuade – and persuade shortly.
This can be a fascinating problem contemplating sources inside Purple Bull have lengthy made it clear that query marks over Tsunoda’s mentality, greater than his driving means, led to him repeatedly being handed over for promotion. This all began when Tsunoda first examined for what was then known as AlphaTauri within the post-season Abu Dhabi take a look at in 2020 and the group was astonished by how vocal and emotional his communications have been over the radio. It’s one thing Tsunoda has, by his personal admission, needed to work on.
Nevertheless, the notion has develop into more and more anachronistic as Tsunoda has improved what he calls his “emotional management” considerably. The final time there was a notable drawback was within the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2024, when group orders annoyed him late on and he made an announcement with an odd lunge and lockup previous Daniel Ricciardo on the slowdown lap. Since then, Tsunoda has been in a greater place, apart from utilizing an ableist slur throughout Austrian Grand Prix qualifying, for which he provided “massive apologies,” in addition to paying a considerable tremendous. However unacceptable language apart, too typically legit pushbacks to group directions are interpreted as problematic once they shouldn’t be. The newest instance was within the Chinese language Grand Prix, when he was proper to demand he work the entrance finish more durable and didn’t settle for the pit wall telling him to not. Shortly afterwards, his reasoning was understood and the group backed the choice. Subsequently, the concept of a driver who is just not working together with his group is an outdated one.
Tsunoda was comparatively undercooked when he first arrived in F1 with AlphaTauri in 2021 (above) however has develop into much more well-rounded within the years since. Lars Baron/Getty Photos
F1 has been a steep studying curve for Tsunoda. When he arrived in 2021, ending ninth on debut in Bahrain, he had a single season in every of European F3 and F2 below his belt and was nonetheless very a lot a piece in progress. He confessed to underestimating how powerful the step as much as F1 can be, and his first season was a chastening expertise with too many errors. However he steadily discovered, to the purpose the place he was in a position to develop into the group’s spearhead as soon as Pierre Gasly left for Alpine on the finish of 2022. He’s now a much more reliable driver, and any patchiness in his outcomes is extra all the way down to his group’s inconsistency than his personal shortcomings.
The primary two weekends of this yr have illustrated that. In Australia, he ran within the high six till the rain returned on lap 44. The group flip-flopped on technique, leaving him out for too lengthy whereas different groups known as their vehicles in, turning a robust end result right into a pointless afternoon. An analogous factor occurred within the Chinese language Grand Prix, the place Racing Bulls caught with a two-stop technique as others tailored to 1. Solely his sturdy run to sixth within the Shanghai Dash rewarded him with factors in a season the place he has been a standout performer. The query now’s whether or not he can translate his excellent kind at Racing Bulls into Purple Bull Racing driving a sooner, however a lot trickier, automotive.
To make his promotion work, Tsunoda should a minimum of partially replicate Verstappen’s talent for extracting the potential from a tough automotive. The Purple Bull RB21 has loads of downforce and grip; the difficulty is accessing its potential constantly as a consequence of its stability limitations. Success or failure in doing so makes the distinction between it being a podium risk and being liable to elimination in Q1. Verstappen’s extraordinary means is to drive the automotive in a approach that minimizes the restrictions and makes probably the most of that potential.
In qualifying particularly, Verstappen’s otherworldly means to control the automotive on the brakes and turn-in is what unlocks its efficiency. The RB21 is susceptible to each understeer and rear-end snaps, however Verstappen can load the entrance axle at turn-in to provide it the entrance finish grip it wants with out the rear stepping out of line. Doing so requires exceptional sensitivity, precision, adaptability and the capability to react near-instantaneously to the suggestions from the automotive. It’s the F1 equal of strolling the tightrope. In contrast, Lawson has fallen repeatedly and subsequently driving to a a lot decrease ceiling – therefore his references to the problem of discovering “the candy spot” with this automotive.
This isn’t merely the issue of a automotive developed for Verstappen, who thrives with a robust entrance finish and might management the ensuing rear-end instability most discover too responsive. Whereas such dynamics have the potential for the very best efficiency ceiling, this requires astonishing expertise to regulate. But with the RB21, Verstappen faces a fair more durable problem with a automotive he says “continues to be not the place I would like it to be.” His driving is a fragile type of bullying that’s past most.
So can Tsunoda do what Verstappen does? It’s unlikely, given Verstappen is, at 27, already established as one of many all-time greats and few drivers within the historical past of grand prix racing have his means. The extra pertinent query is whether or not Tsunoda can approximate the Verstappen approach sufficient to do the job Purple Bull wants. That’s often framed by the group as being about three-tenths off and banking common factors – though as a racing driver with unshakable confidence, Tsunoda himself will likely again himself to do way over that.
There’s a reference level, which is the post-season Abu Dhabi take a look at final yr. Tsunoda logged 127 laps within the 2024 Purple Bull, which was much less a chance provided by Purple Bull and extra one facilitated by energy unit provider Honda, which has backed Tsunoda since his early days in single-seaters. There, Tsunoda claimed to really feel comfy within the automotive and in a position to push it to the restrict.
Verstappen’s driving model doesn’t work for a lot of different drivers, however Tsunoda might want to undertake components of it to have a shot at reaching the RB21’s potential. Clive Mason/Getty Photos
“I feel so — I didn’t actually wrestle a lot to adapt,” mentioned Tsunoda. “I didn’t have many soiled laps. On the lengthy runs, I’ve been in a position to run constantly and immediately felt the restrictions of the automotive, which should you don’t believe within the automotive, you’ll be able to’t really feel any limitations.”
Though Tsunoda confirmed what he may do, the die had already been forged and Purple Bull’s determination was made – Lawson was going to interchange Sergio Perez, topic to the payoff being finalized with the Mexican. The willingness to make the swap with Lawson so early within the season confirms that Tsunoda did an excellent job in Abu Dhabi.
Tsunoda is certainly higher certified for the problem than he would have been a few years in the past and is promoted to Purple Bull Racing with the sort of expertise two of his predecessors, Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly, had. Tsunoda is, by inclination, a late braker. After I requested him about that in November 2023, that is how he described his model:
“Stronger and quick,” mentioned Tsunoda. “The preliminary half is stronger. I’ve by no means seen a driver the place the preliminary half is stronger than me. The releasing half, the later half, he [teammate Ricciardo] is nice at. I can be taught one thing from that as a driver.”
This was a big section of Tsunoda’s improvement, one which broadened his window. Whereas his unique F1 teammate, Gasly, can be by inclination a late braker, one who thrives attacking the nook offered that the rear finish is predictable sufficient to provide him confidence, Ricciardo confirmed Tsunoda one other approach. That’s expanded Tsunoda’s toolkit as a driver and, critically, given him a deeper understanding of the worth of manipulating the automotive’s stability utilizing the brakes. To do what Verstappen does, braking late is just not an possibility because it simply means struggling to get the automotive turned. Then you’re restricted on traction whenever you attempt to feed the ability in because of the additional lock required to get the automotive by the remainder of the nook. Tsunoda a minimum of has a grounding in how one can attempt to obtain this.
The strain is on, however that is probably life-changing alternative for Tsunoda, who can rework himself from useful midfielder to frontrunner. When it comes to expertise, the timing is correct even when it might have been higher to provide him a winter and pre-season to organize, however that is the chance he craves to show he can do what Gasly, Albon, Perez and Lawson did not do earlier than him.
If Tsunoda delivers, and that doesn’t imply matching Verstappen however merely being a helpful quantity two for Purple Bull, then this may very well be a career-making alternative. If not, it is going to be a career-breaking one, however a minimum of he’ll have had the belated probability to indicate what he can do within the least hospitable seat in F1.
