‘Question marks’ still haunt Yuki Tsunoda despite Laurent Mekies admitting Red Bull’s Belgian Grand Prix ‘mistake’

Follow us on Google Discover

Laurent Mekies oversaw his first race as the new F1 CEO and team principal of Red Bull at the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix, but the team’s fresh start did not help Yuki Tsunoda.

Mekies took charge in Milton Keynes ahead of the Belgian GP after Red Bull sacked Christian Horner without telling him why the Briton was relieved of his duties after 20 years. Spa thus saw Red Bull enter a Grand Prix for the first time without Horner, who guided their first 406.

A change in leadership did not help Tsunoda to end his disappointing run of results, though. The 25-year-old has now failed to score a single point during the past six rounds of the 2025 F1 season, with P9 in the Bahrain Grand Prix in round four of 13 his best result with Red Bull.

Tsunoda could only manage P11 in the F1 Sprint at the Belgian GP after qualifying in P12 and would even only manage P13 in the Grand Prix, despite qualifying in P7. The Japanese driver reached Q3 for only the fourth time with Red Bull and for the first time in seven Grands Prix.

Laurent Mekies admits Red Bull made a ‘mistake’ with Yuki Tsunoda’s Belgian GP pit stop

Mekies stepped in at the last minute to ensure that Tsunoda got Red Bull’s upgraded floor in qualifying for the Belgian GP. The update is said to be worth around three to four tenths of a second per lap, and Tsunoda was only 0.381s slower than Max Verstappen during Q3 with it.

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda’s life outside F1 from height to parents

But Red Bull’s delayed pit stop derailed Tsunoda’s Belgian GP before his 100th career Grand Prix start really got going. The Kanagawa native stopped on Lap 13 of 44 to switch from the intermediate tyres to the C3 medium compound Pirelli rubber after the track started to dry.

Mekies admits that Red Bull made a ‘mistake’ with the timing of their call to tell Tsunoda to stop, having wanted him to follow Verstappen in on Lap 12. His extra tour on intermediates meant Tsunoda fell from P7 before the stops to running outside of the points-paying places.

“It was our mistake,” Mekies admitted about Tsunoda’s Belgian GP, via quotes by The Race. “We wanted to pit him on the same lap as Max. And everything was ready, the crew was out, everything was ready to get both cars. And we simply called him too late.

“So, it’s on us, unfortunately, and one lap made a big difference today. So, he lost, I think, three or four positions, which ultimately stopped his fight for the points.”

Red Bull still have questions about Yuki Tsunoda’s race pace after the Belgian Grand Prix

But The Race reports that ‘question marks’ still loom over Tsunoda’s head at Red Bull as one extra lap on intermediate tyres did not account for the time he then lost on slick tyres in the Belgian GP. He was 9.051s behind Verstappen before pitting, yet was 21.456s behind by L17.

By Lap 27, Verstappen’s pursuit of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for P3 saw him pull further clear of Tsunoda in P12 with a 32.219s margin. Red Bull even saw Tsunoda drop another 10.763s to Verstappen in 10 laps, despite running in clean air until he caught Pierre Gasly of Alpine.

Tsunoda’s lack of any real race pace during the Belgian GP worried Red Bull. The Japanese racer ultimately finished the event in P13 and 2.681s behind Gasly as he secured Alpine the final point. Haas gem Oliver Bearman and Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg even overtook Tsunoda.