Max Verstappen, Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull, 2025

Yuki Tsunoda says he needs to raise his game in order to play a supporting role to team mate Max Verstappen.

While Verstappen has closed on the championship-leading McLaren drivers over the last four rounds, Tsunoda is only 16th in the standings. However Tsunoda scored points in both races at the Circuit of the Americas last weekend.

He acknowledged he needs to run closer to the front of the field in order to be able to help Verstappen such as by running helpful strategies to delay rivals.

“I think position-wise […], especially being as high as possible, will create more opportunities to play around with the strategy in favour of the team,” said Tsunoda. “Whatever […] – extend the stint depending on the situation.

“Strategy that, if I can help Max to have a higher chance to be P1 or make our competitors’ lives more difficult. So, that’s kind of the role I understand.

“I’m not fighting for the championship, my team mate is. So definitely, yes [I will help]. But also, to do that, obviously you have to be consistently performing well – as I did in the Austin sprint race – and that’s what I have to do more in the short run.”

Tsunoda pointed out he can also assist his team mate by contributing to Red Bull’s development efforts.

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“I think I can help in a lot of areas,” he said. “Set-up, different resources. We’re still [trying] to discover a lot of new set-ups that […] suit or maximise the current package and that’s what we are doing very well this year so far.”

Red Bull is yet to announce who Verstappen’s team mate next year will be. Tsunoda only joined the team at the third round of the year, having spent the previous four seasons at Red Bull’s junior squad, Racing Bulls.

He feels he has made clear improvements over recent rounds. “I was struggling quite a lot in the long run, I would say, in the beginning of the season, and now I’ve improved that. I’ve made quite a big step.

“Now, [I’m] struggling a little bit to put it all together the whole weekend in terms of performance in the long run, so that’s what I’m focusing on. But the most important thing is I got support a lot from the team – Laurent [Mekies, team principal], the engineers. Without that, I wouldn’t be here and able to improve.

“The tools are there, and that’s why I started to go in the right direction, I guess.”

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