Yuki Tsunoda’s Austrian GP was among the toughest of his F1 career, featuring a Q1 exit, multiple penalties, and a last-place finish. Red Bull team boss Christian Horner didn’t hold back in his assessment of their wretched weekend, but assured the team would support Tsunoda in rebuilding confidence ahead of Silverstone.
Tsunoda’s weekend started badly and somehow managed to get worse. Qualifying saw him knocked out in Q1 for the third time in five races since stepping up to Red Bull, leaving him 18th on the grid.
Come Sunday, when Max Verstappen retired on lap one after tangling with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, Tsunoda was Red Bull’s only hope for points. While things started promisingly enough, with him gaining a few positions early on, the spark fizzled out quickly.
As the laps ticked by, the familiar problems returned. His tyres began degrading heavily, and he could feel the car “melting lap by lap” beneath him. Then came the moment that summed up his weekend perfectly. An attempted overtake on Franco Colapinto at Turn 4 went wrong, resulting in contact, a damaged front wing, and a 10-second penalty.
Speaking about his driver’s performance on their home turf during his print media session, Horner said:
“I mean, Yuki had a horrible race. Again, it started to go wrong for him in Q1 yesterday. His first run in Q1 was fine; second run, he made a mistake at Turn One and then qualified badly. Then was running in traffic, unable to pass, then picks up a penalty, and it just compounds things.”
By the chequered flag, Tsunoda had finished 16th, last of the classified runners and the only driver to be lapped twice. More significantly, his result meant Red Bull’s streak of scoring points for 77 races has come to an end.
Horner says Red Bull will work to rebuild Tsunoda’s confidence ahead of Silverstone
The performance gap between Tsunoda and Verstappen has become increasingly difficult to ignore. Horner acknowledged there’s a “big delta between the two cars,” and you can sense the internal discussions that must be happening behind closed doors.
However, the Red Bull boss assured that the team will support Tsunoda in revitalising his confidence as they head to Silverstone. He said:
“So, of course, we’ll look to see how we can support him, but there’s a big delta between the two cars, and of course, internally we ask all of those questions that no doubt you ask, in terms of why. Obviously, the car has evolved over the years in a specific direction, but we’ll see if we can help Yuki and rebuild his confidence in Silverstone.”
Tsunoda’s car didn’t feature the latest upgrades last weekend; only Verstappen had the updated package. But with the Dutchman crashing out on the very first lap, Red Bull lost its only chance to evaluate the upgrade over a full race distance. Addressing the situation, Horner said:
“It’s a very modest upgrade, this one. Let’s see at Silverstone then. It’s a different type of circuit. It’ll probably be a different temperature, although there’s a heatwave in the UK at the moment. It’s fast corners; it’s shorter corners. It’s a completely different challenge to this circuit, so I think it will move again in terms of the competitive order.”
Formula 1 heads home to Silverstone next weekend, and Red Bull is aiming to restore some much-needed confidence in Tsunoda. Sitting 17th in the standings, 2 points behind Liam Lawson, the driver he replaced, Tsunoda will be hoping for a turnaround. It’s been a rough start since his Red Bull debut, and he will be hoping that Silverstone might be his shot at resetting the narrative.
