Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull, Red Bull Ring, 2025

Yuki Tsunoda was at a loss to explain a sudden shift in balance which led to his elimination in the first round of qualifying at the Red Bull Ring.

The Red Bull driver will start 18th on the grid after dropping out in Q1. He lapped within three tenths of a second of team mate Max Verstappen, but around the short Austrian circuit the pair qualified 12 places apart.

“I don’t know [why], I have to check, but the balance was completely off on the last lap,” Tsunoda told the official F1 channel. “It felt quite good on the first push, [but] in the second push it was somehow just completely off.

“I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong with the warm-up or everything [else]. So to be honest, the balance is completely different. So it’s hard to explain that.”

Tsunoda is in his ninth weekend at Red Bull after joining the team in place of Liam Lawson. He has struggled with his car’s set-up on several occasions and this was his third Q1 elimination in the last five rounds.

He appeared to have better pace earlier in the weekend at the Red Bull Ring, but the gap between him and Verstappen widened in qualifying. “Even if the pace is good, ending up like this is so frustrating,” he said.

“To be honest, I was feeling good, and ended up [like] this. The balance is, in the end – just somehow [I’m] not able to put it all together all the time. So I just have to talk with the engineers.”

Tsunoda qualified behind both drivers from his former team Racing Bulls. Lawson will start sixth – ahead of Verstappen, whose final lap was compromised by a yellow flag – and Isack Hadjar 13th.

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