Yuki Tsunoda has faced a tough transition since joining Red Bull from Racing Bulls earlier in the 2025 Formula 1 season. Although his latest outing at the Hungarian Grand Prix didn’t yield a strong result, he remained optimistic, highlighting some encouraging signs from the weekend. His struggles began in practice sessions where he lacked pace, and a difficult qualifying saw him start 16th. The tight and technical nature of the Hungaroring made overtaking a challenge, and he ultimately crossed the finish line in 17th, unable to make significant progress during the race.
Despite the result, Tsunoda found a silver lining in his growing competitiveness with team-mate Max Verstappen. The reigning four-time world champion also endured a frustrating weekend, managing only a ninth-place finish and a couple of points. In qualifying, Tsunoda was just over a tenth slower than Verstappen—a noticeable improvement compared to previous races. Though this small difference didn’t translate into a Q2 appearance for Tsunoda, he emphasized that the narrowing gap between them was a sign of personal progress.
Tsunoda pointed to qualifying in Hungary as one of his strongest relative performances since joining Red Bull, especially after adopting an updated package similar to Verstappen’s. In Q1, his time was just 0.163 seconds off Verstappen’s—a stark contrast to the larger gaps seen at Spa and Silverstone, where the deficit was closer to half a second. He considered the Budapest performance one of the closest margins to his teammate in the last four years, a detail that boosted morale within the team and gave Tsunoda something to be proud of.
However, any hopes of capitalizing on this momentum during the race were dashed by damage to his car, which significantly impacted his pace. He revealed that the team already had difficulties with baseline speed, and the additional damage sealed his fate early on in the race. This led to a performance that didn’t reflect the improvements made during qualifying. Nevertheless, Tsunoda remained focused on the bigger picture and the signs of steady development in his performance.
As the championship heads into its summer break, Tsunoda is looking to carry the momentum of his recent gains into the second half of the season. He acknowledged Red Bull’s impressive efforts so far in 2025, particularly in terms of upgrades and development. Although he was surprised by how much pace the team lacked in Hungary, he remains hopeful that it was a track-specific issue. With F1 set to resume at Zandvoort in late August, Tsunoda and the team will be aiming to convert their hard work into stronger race-day results.
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