Yuki Tsunoda’s bid to become a consistent Red Bull performer has hit a snag with a mystifying qualifying slump followed up by a shocking first lap at Formula 1’s Singapore Grand Prix.
With Red Bull picking up its performances in recent races, Tsunoda’s own contributions are under the spotlight as the organisation’s 2026 driver decision nears.
World champion team-mate Max Verstappen took two wins in three, alongside second in Singapore, while a stronger Baku weekend for Tsunoda is yet to be regularly repeated. The 25-year-old is 17th in the drivers’ championship, still equal on points with Pierre Gasly at struggling Alpine.
Tsunoda’s main priority has been sorting out his long run performance. The irony is that his race pace did look more encouraging at Marina Bay, but that counted for little due to a botched qualifying session and a horror opening lap, which saw him drop from 13th to 17th.
From deep in the pack, and having started on soft tyres, Tsunoda recovered to finish 12th but was beaten to the points by the likes of Williams driver Carlos Sainz, who started in 18th.
When quizzed by Autosport about his disastrous start, Tsunoda fumed: “It definitely was the worst start or the first lap ever in my life. I can’t still believe what happened in the first lap.
Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull Racing Team
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
“Every place I tried to go, every corner in the first lap, I was literally covered or blocked by someone. I just didn’t have any space to go. I lost so many positions in the first lap. It was definitely the worst start ever.
“I don’t know what I should have done there. I’m sure there’s something I could have done better. That for sure made my life very hard afterwards.”
Tsunoda insisted his Q2 elimination and his traffic-affected race actually masked his improving long run pace, which has left him with some optimism for the upcoming run of races in the Americas.
“To be honest, the pace was one of the best I’ve had in my Red Bull career so far,” he explained. “Until two races ago, I was almost hopeless. The pace I had, whatever I did, I was almost P19, P18. But now I had a really good pace, very competitive towards the top of the field.
“Now I just have to extract the grip on the one lap. I just somehow couldn’t feel much grip. I think just putting it all together with a one lap pace and the long run is, I think, the key. If I’m able to do that, I think we’ll come together. That’s my main goal.”
Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies said the team was still trying to figure out why Tsunoda couldn’t wring a laptime out of the car on Saturday after Friday practice looked reasonable.
Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull Racing, Laurent Mekies, Racing Bulls Team Principal
Photo by: Kym Illman / Getty Images
“It was not a good Saturday for Yuki,” said Mekies. “Personally I was satisfied with the work he did on Friday but then Saturday was poor, we need to work with him to understand what derailed it.
“The first lap was certainly shocking, but from that point onward I think he did a very decent race, I think he came back from P18 to P12 with a very decent pace. We had a very poor Saturday, it’s costing us the weekend and a few points, and we’ll work together with him to improve it.”
But with former Racing Bulls team-mate Isack Hadjar tipped to replace him in 2026, and junior driver Arvid Lindblad waiting in the wings too, Tsunoda is well aware of his predicament.
“It’s not an easy car, for sure,” he said. “But Max was in the fight for P2 and I was fighting somewhere else…”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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