Yuki Tsunoda has struggled for results since his promotion to the top Red Bull team and, with his contract expiring at the end of this season, his future in Formula 1 is on the line
Yuki Tsunoda said he has been given an internal deadline to find his best form amid questions over his Formula 1 future. The Japanese has managed only seven points since being promoted to the main Red Bull team after two rounds of the current campaign.
Red Bull need to get their second car performing as they languish in fourth place in the constructors’ championship. The consensus at the team, though, is that Tsunoda’s performances have been improving – though he has yet to be rewarded for that in terms of results.
Nor has he done enough to secure his place on the 2026 F1 grid. Red Bull are one of the few outfits still to decide their driver plans for next season, with Max Verstappen the only one to have a contract across their two teams.
Though he declined to share details, Tsunoda said he has agreed a timeline with his team regarding his future. He said: “We agreed what kind of time we are looking for to me to show the good performance, in order to let them decide what kind of contract they want for next year. But, let’s see.”
For much of the season up to now, Red Bull had focused their upgrade efforts on Verstappen to help the Dutchman in his drivers’ title defence. But now that he looks to be out of that race, and under new team principal Laurent Mekies, effort has been made to restore some parity between their racers.
While no points were forthcoming, Tsunoda’s performances markedly improved in the final two races before the summer break. The Japanese said that even long-serving team adviser Helmut Marko, who has a significant say in driver contract decisions, had been surprised by the package difference between the two cars before he was finally given their upgrades to use.
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Tsunoda said: “I definitely have to show more but, actually, the last two races before summer break, that helped a little bit. Probably they didn’t recognise that much, especially Helmut, that the difference between me and Max in terms of the package differences. And as soon as they introduced that, my pace suddenly much improved.
“And in Hungary, the difference between me and Max was very small since practice. And that shows that actually maybe has some potential. So I think I just keep what I’m doing, but also at the same time, still have to put it all together throughout the week, you can’t just probably rely on the pace.
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“I need to score points. That’s why I was preparing for it in this summer break and just need to score points as much as possible. [Marko] is here for the team and he wants to have points as much as possible. So I need to perform, for sure.
“But, if I understand it correctly, he’s still waiting a bit of time to define what’s good for Red Bull. And I think let’s see for Racing Bulls or whatever. They’re performing currently quite well. And it’s a team that I have been for a long time. So, obviously, my main goal is to still stick with Red Bull. But, let’s see.”
