Yuki Tsunoda has been enduring a torrid time at Red Bull since making the jump from Racing Bulls earlier in the 2025 Formula 1 season. But despite another lacklustre result at the Hungarian Grand Prix, he said there were positives to take from the weekend.
Tsunoda’s campaign in Budapest never really got off the ground, with the Japanese driver struggling for pace in practice before qualifying 16th for the grand prix. In the race, unable to move through the pack on the tight Hungaroring, he couldn’t show his potential and finished the race in 17th.
But, for once, there wasn’t a huge gulf in results between Tsunoda and his four-time world champion team-mate, Max Verstappen. The Dutchman also had a tough stint in Hungary, struggling through the 70-lap race to pick up just two points for his ninth-place finish.
“Obviously, as a team, we struggled this weekend,” Tsunoda told media following the Hungarian GP.
“So, even though I was one tenth behind, I couldn’t go to Q2. So, on paper, it doesn’t look good, but at the same time, I think what I’m doing so far is positive.”
The positives Tsunoda speaks of come as he is closing in on the performances of his much more successful team-mate. In Q1, Verstappen’s top time of 1m15.736s was just 0.163s quicker than Tsunoda’s.
In contrast, Tsunoda was half a second off Verstappen’s pace last week at Spa, and the gap was similar at the previous race at Silverstone.
“Yeah, I mean, that’s positive, and it’s showing that I’m making progress,” Tsunoda added. “After I introduced the package much closer to Max, if you see on the paper – on the short runs especially – it’s quite clear that I’m closing the gap to Max.
“Yesterday [Saturday qualifying] was probably one of the closest gaps in the last four years, which I think the team was proud of, and I think I can be proud of that. So I’ll just keep what I’m doing.”
Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull Racing Team
Photo by: Guido De Bortoli
Despite the positives in qualifying, Tsunoda’s race pace was, unfortunately, hampered by the tight track in Hungary and damage that he picked up, which he says meant he “lost a lot of pace” in the closing stages of the grand prix.
“The baseline pace was already [a real struggle for the] team,” Tsunoda explained. “And on top of it, having damage was not ideal at all. Yep, pretty much the race was done with that.”
Despite the result on paper, the decreasing gap to Verstappen will be exactly what Tsunoda hoped for heading into Formula 1’s summer break.
“Obviously, there’s not much time to rest,” Tsunoda added. “It was a bit surprising the amount of pace we didn’t have in the last race [and] for the first half of the season. But at the same time, the fields are very, very tight.
“I think in terms of the package Red Bull [has brought] so far, it’s impressively good. The amount of stuff they’ve done in the first half of the season… is incredible. So I hope we can continue with that [after the break].”
The team will be targeting better fortunes when F1 returns to Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August, with its struggles in Hungary thought to be track-specific.
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