Yuki Tsunoda revealed ‘unlocking something’ post-Monza was key to his much-improved Azerbaijan Grand Prix performance amid doubts over his Formula 1 future.
The 25-year-old both qualified and finished sixth in Baku over the weekend, marking his best result since joining Red Bull for round three of 2025 from sister squad Racing Bulls.
It was a rare positive during a very poor season for Tsunoda, who is 17th in the championship with just five points finishes having struggled to contain the unpredictable RB21 – much like predecessor Liam Lawson.
In contrast, world champion team-mate Max Verstappen is third after 17 rounds with four grand prix wins this year, including back-to-back victories in Monza and Baku.
So, it is no coincidence that Tsunoda’s uptick has coincided with an improved RB21, which had an updated floor in Monza, while new team boss Laurent Mekies has changed his squad’s technical approach.
That has included putting more emphasis on driver feedback, which saw Verstappen get the set-up he wanted in Italy, while Tsunoda made a discovery in his simulator time since then.
“Definitely I unlocked something there,” said Tsunoda. “I just started this approach and obviously not at a level that probably Max is doing now, but step by step and I think was not as far as I had in the previous race week.
Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull Racing Team
Photo by: Bryn Lennon / Formula 1 / Getty Images
“So definitely positive, and I think also it shows some improvement from myself that I put some efforts over the weeks. Extra simulator work, or whatever, and I think that that pays off a little bit. So I just keep doing what I’m doing.”
Tsunoda singled out his long run pace as an area he has improved upon, given he has often been strong in qualifying with six Q3 appearances since joining Red Bull.
And it has certainly caught the eye of Mekies, who was particularly impressed by the way Tsunoda held off Lando Norris in the championship-leading McLaren late on in Baku.
“I think it’s his best race with us this year,” said Mekies, who replaced Horner as Red Bull boss in July, having previously been team principal at Racing Bulls.
“He was strong yesterday in qualifying; he was very strong in the race. The clever guys will get the number right, but he was sometimes two, sometimes three, sometimes four, rarely four tenths away from Max. And Max was pulling away from everyone with that pace, so it was very, very serious pace.
“We thought he would have to defend very hard against McLaren and Ferrari also to help with Max chasing the win and he didn’t have to defend.
Laurent Mekies, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Kym Illman / Getty Images
“He was actually there on merit, and Lando stayed behind him and didn’t put much pressure on him. So it’s his best, not only result, but also race pace with us.”
Baku could help Tsunoda’s chances of staying with Red Bull for next year, as it showed what he can do when the weekend goes cleanly and he isn’t caught up in midfield drama.
That is something Mekies was after, previously saying he needs “clean samples” to assess Tsunoda for 2026 in the aftermath of him picking up floor damage in his point-less Monza race.
“It was really the one thing that was probably the most important for us, which is to get that sort of clean sample,” added Mekies, who then cited Tsunoda’s 17th-place finish in Hungary on the eve of the summer break.
“So I’m very happy for him. He’s working very hard; he has never backed off working hard. We discussed after it was a tough time in Budapest, he came straight to the simulator instead of going on holiday, he said, ‘no, no, I’ll go back to the simulator with the team and work the next day’.
“And that’s the approach he has. Every weekend when he’s not racing, he’s working somewhere with his engineers or on his driving. And I’m very happy for him that he shows progress.”
Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls Team, Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls Team
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images
Red Bull is aiming to announce Verstappen’s 2026 team-mate at the end of October, with Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar currently favourite for the promotion after his Zandvoort podium.
But his promotion is not yet guaranteed, as the confidence Tsunoda has gained from Baku could result in a strong end to 2025, thus going back to the form he showed before joining Red Bull.
“It’s good news to see Yuki keeping up,” said Mekies. “He deserves it, it’s why you see us relaxed about it, because we have time. Why would we rush? Because drivers, you know, speed doesn’t disappear, drivers make progress.
“And it’s such a confidence business and you see the confidence of Yuki this weekend was certainly high up. He did very, very, very, very strongly. So we have more time, as we said, we will not wait until Abu Dhabi, but we have a few more races for sure.”
Additional reporting by Cihangir Perperik and Ronald Vording
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