Yuki Tsunoda says one Christian Horner decision made the 2025 season ‘particularly difficult’

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Yuki Tsunoda may have driven in his last Formula 1 Grand Prix, though he will of course be determined to return to the grid in 2027. Tsunoda was told prior to the season finale in Abu Dhabi that he had lost his Red Bull seat.

Tsunoda will continue with the team as a reserve driver, but any hope of a return to Racing Bulls was dashed by Arvid Lindblad’s promotion from Formula 2.

On the headline figures alone, it’s difficult to argue with Red Bull’s decision. Tsunoda was thrashed 25-1 by Max Verstappen in both the qualifying and race head-to-heads (including all races that both drivers finished).

Where did you expect Yuki Tsunoda to finish when he joined Red Bull?

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The Milton Keynes outfit weren’t expecting him to beat Verstappen, but they were expecting him to at least score points consistently. Tsunoda missed out on the top 10 in 15 of his 22 appearances.

Yuki Tsunoda says lack of upgrades at Red Bull made a huge difference in 2025

But as Tsunoda points out, those numbers don’t tell the full story. When Christian Horner promoted him to Red Bull at Liam Lawson’s expense, he didn’t offer him equal machinery.

Laurent Mekies gave Tsunoda the same upgrades as Verstappen when he arrived, but that wasn’t until the summer. Later in the campaign, the Dutchman was prioritised again as he hunted down the McLaren drivers in the world championship.

Tsunoda knew that Verstappen was emphatically the number one at Red Bull, but he says he lost significant lap time by running older parts.

“I think it was the tightest season in the history of F1,” he told DAZN, via Motorsport Japan. “Differences of less than one-tenth of a second can change two or three positions, so the difference in updates can have a big impact.

“Even a difference of two or three tenths of a second from Max can mean a difference of five to seven places in the rankings, which makes a huge difference in how the results are perceived. Giving feedback and demonstrating my own value was particularly difficult.”

What was the average gap between Yuki Tsunoda and Max Verstappen?

Tsunoda was seven-tenths of a second slower than Verstappen on average in qualifying, according to data gathered by The Race.

He claims that Verstappen’s car was inherently two to three tenths quicker due to upgrades, which would still leave him around half a second behind.

Looking to next year, Juan Pablo Montoya is worried about Isack Hadjar, Tsunoda’s replacement. He fears that the Frenchman will also be an afterthought when it comes to updates.

Max Verstappen’s manager wants help from the sister car in 2026 after he was left to fight the McLaren drivers alone this year, but that’s not entirely on Tsunoda.