Yuki Tsunoda explains how his ‘relationship’ with Helmut Marko adds ‘extra pressure’ at RB

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Helmut Marko is known for being a tough boss at Red Bull having been in charge of their driver programme since they joined Formula 1.

Although it can often look like they have a conveyor belt of rookie drivers, their ruthless approach has yielded title success for them over the years with Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen.

Yuki Tsunoda was the last driver that Red Bull handed a full-time driver to in F1, partially at the behest of their engine partner Honda, but mostly because of his promising results in junior formulas.

After a couple of shakey first seasons in F1, Tsunoda has now settled in and produced an impressive 2024 season. Marko has praised Tsunoda at times this year, notably after the Australian GP when he stated that he was ‘faultless’ on his run to scoring Visa CashApp RB’s first points of the season.

Discussing his relationship with Helmut Marko on the Beyond the Grid podcast, Tsunoda explained why his relationship with Marko has been key to ensuring that he is delivering his maximum on track.

Yuki Tsunoda says Helmut Marko adds ‘extra pressure’ to perform

Tsunoda has scored the bulk of RB’s 34 points in the Constructors’ Championship this season, which puts them in sixth heading into the final eight races of the season.

The Japanese driver has explained how the dynamic works between himself and Marko whenever he puts in a good result or if he has a bad day at the office.

“If I have a good race, he will praise me. He will say nice words. If I have a bad race he’ll add a bit of pressure, a little bit more than usual. So I kind of got used to it. But he’s the guy who was, since I joined Red Bull, always looked after me,” said Tsunoda.

“Sometimes his advice can be a bit of extra pressure, going ahead of race. But at the same time, a lot of times also helped me a lot. Without our team I’m not here in Formula 1. I’d say the relationship is definitely there.”

Yuki Tsunoda overlooked for Red Bull seat

When Sergio Perez was on the brink of being dropped by Red Bull due a string of poor results, several drivers were mentioned as being in contention for the seat.

Daniel Ricciardo emerged as the front-runner with Liam Lawson, but Tsunoda was not on the shortlist because neither Christian Horner or Marko wanted to promote him.

Tsunoda said it would be’ ‘weird’ if Red Bull favoured Lawson after the New Zealander only did five races, especially given he has outperformed Ricciardo this season.

READ MORE: Visa Cash App RB driver Yuki Tsunoda’s life outside F1 from height to parents

Instead, it appears Red Bull bosses wanted Tsunoda to ‘calm down’ after noticing his temper can often get in the way of a good result.

Tsunoda has previously likened himself to a character in Monsters Inc due to his temper, although he earned praise from Martin Brundle who named him as a breakout driver in 2024.