How Yuki Tsunoda's Make-or-Break Red Bull Chance in 2025 Broke Him

Yuki Tsunoda's make-or-break opportunity with Red Bull in 2025 ultimately broke him. After stepping in mid-season to replace the struggling Liam Lawson, the Japanese driver failed to adapt to the top team's demanding car, leading to a dismal campaign, a stark performance gap to his teammate, and his subsequent demotion to a reserve role for 2026.

Why it matters:

Tsunoda's failure is a stark reminder of the immense pressure and unique challenges of driving for a top-tier team like Red Bull. It highlights the 'poisoned chalice' nature of their senior car, where even proven talents from the junior team can falter, questioning the team's driver evaluation and promotion strategy while demonstrating the fine line between F1 success and obscurity.

The details:

• The season began with highly-rated rookie Liam Lawson in the seat, but he was quickly replaced after three Q1 exits in the first two races.
• Tsunoda, who had spent years adapting to the understeer of the Racing Bulls car, struggled to rediscover his form with the Red Bull's aggressive front-end grip, a characteristic he once preferred.
• Performance Gap: He was consistently outperformed by Max Verstappen, with an average qualifying deficit of six-tenths of a second in dry conditions.
• Qualifying Woes: In 27 sessions, Tsunoda was eliminated in Q1 ten times and in Q2 on nine other occasions, constantly starting from poor grid positions.
• Race Results: He scored only 30 points to Verstappen's 385, spending just 230 of his 1,386 laps in the top eight positions.
• Unexplained Struggles: The 25-year-old frequently described the car's behavior as 'strange' without being able to provide clear feedback, culminating in a dismal race in Austria where he finished two laps down.

What's next:

Red Bull has acted decisively, demoting Tsunoda to a reserve driver for 2026 and promoting the impressive Isack Hadjar to the race seat. While Tsunoda has vowed to fight back and prove he deserves a place on the grid, his future in Formula 1 is now uncertain and largely out of his hands, serving as a cautionary tale for any driver stepping into the spotlight.