After a disappointing 2025 F1 Monaco GP, Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda will aim for a better race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. While speaking the the FIA Thursday press conference, the Japanese driver who finished the Monaco race 17th after a collision with Pierre Gasly, reflected on his performance, and on how he had been settling it at his new team after his shock promotion to Red Bull ahead of his home race in Japan.
Comfort with the Red Bull
With several races now under his belt, Tsunoda discussed his his progress with the Milton Keynes-based team. While Tsunoda believes that he is improving, he admitted that there was still work to do, especially with teammate Max Verstappen so far ahead in terms of performance, as most recently seen in the 2025 F1 Monaco GP.
“I’m still building the progress in terms of confidence and everything. I mean, understanding about the car is getting there. Just, you know, the last few tenths, few milliseconds, especially when you want the track evolution, you want to naturally feel it, right? And those things—when you sometimes change set-up, you want to know what kind of balance you’re going to get. And obviously, with a new car, it’s just hard to know exactly how the car is going to behave.”
He admitted that he underestimated the differences between the RB21 and his old VCARB 02. He believes that this could help explain why he seemed to be underperforming compared to his old team which saw both drivers scoring points in Monaco.
“In those things it comes down to experience. And obviously, last four years with VCARB, I knew exactly what’s going to happen, so I didn’t really have to even think about those things. I would naturally react and drive fast. So I think those things will come. I think the Imola thing just made me re-recognise the amount of understanding I currently have.
“I was probably slightly underestimating how important it is to know those areas especially. So it’s not that I’ve lost confidence or whatever, but just slowly building up and we’ll be there at some point.”
Monaco was going good until Qualifying
Despite his disappointment on Sunday in the Principality, Tsunoda believes that he had been strong at the Monte Carlo circuit, enjoying strong pacein both FP2 and FP3. Reflecting on his experiences in the Free Practice sessions at the 2025 F1 Monaco GP, Tsunoda believes that his performance is promising.
“I mean, to be honest, Monaco was pretty good until Qualifying. Yeah, red flag and lots of things didn’t go to plan. Obviously, it’s always hard to be on the plan and there was definitely a lap that I could have done slightly better. So in that sense, yeah, qualifying was very tough for us, tough for me especially. But at least until FP2, FP3, I was fighting quite close, and to be honest, the pace was probably best ever. So, it’s getting there.”
Tsunoda focused on himself rather than Max Verstappen
Looking ahead to the 2025 F1 Spanish GP after his Monaco disappointment, Tsunoda plans to focus on himself despite his teammate Max Verstappen’s recent dominance around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Verstappen has won four times at the Catalan circuit, but while Tsunoda believes that Verstappen’s strength is promising for the team, he does not plan to let it affect his own approach.
“Barcelona – yeah, I mean, I didn’t see much history about the Red Bull winning here, but you said four times he’s won, that’s good news. But I just keep focusing on myself rather than Max.”
