Tsunoda prepares for the toughest jobs in motorsports. Or at least he believes he is. At 24, he has a strong start to 2025, in addition to four seasons of Formula 1, he is better prepared for this opportunity than the man he replaced, Liam Lawson, and has come to thrive despite Max Verstappen’s partnership at the Red Bull race being considered a career poison.
The horned dad has nothing to lose. This was his last year at the Racing Bulls Fold, and the Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said five years after calling it a “support team” last December, “we have to let you go at that point or see something different.” Although Tsunoda has proven himself worthy of a seat on the F1 grid, the ’26 opportunity is limited if Red Bull’s B-team doesn’t hold him. The jump to Red Bull presents an opportunity to change the direction of his career, perhaps even establishing himself with the front and rear teams in the long run.
Not only is he considered the toughest thing in Formula 1, but considering that he’s only thrown into his seat with no prior experience with the car, two races in the season and doing so for his home grand prize, that’s a big question. The dedication of the home crowd and the patrol owner Honda hoping to flourish means pressure will rise, and how Zonodah deals with it could set him for success or failure at Red Bull. He’ll get more than the ridiculous two weekends given to Lawson, but Death will be cast in Suzuka in some way. Red Bull immediately turns his attention to identifying an alternative to the ’26, if the Zonodah doesn’t convince him.
This is an appealing challenge given that sources within Red Bull have revealed that question marks are repeatedly carried over for promotions, rather than his driving ability, and even the hornda mentality. This all began when they first tested what was then called Alpha Tauri in the post-season Abu Dhabi Test, but the team was amazed at how vocal and emotional his communications were on the radio. That’s something that Tsunoda had to tackle with his own admission.
However, his perception became increasingly anachronistic as Tsunoda greatly improved what he called “emotional control.” The last notable issue occurred at Bahrain Granpurin in 2024, when the team’s orders got frustrated and later, and he made a statement with a strange charge and lock-up, passing Daniel Richard on a slowdown lap. Since then, Tsunoda has been in a better place, except for using a capable slur in Austrian Grand Prix qualifiers. But aside unacceptable language, a legitimate pushback to team instructions is often interpreted as problematic when it should not. The most recent example was at the Chinese Grand Prix. When he was right to demand that he work harder on the front end, he didn’t accept the pit wall. Shortly afterwards, his reasoning was understood and the team supported the decision. Therefore, the idea of a driver who is not working with his team is outdated.
F1 is a sharp learning curve for horned horns. When he arrived in 2021 and finished ninth in his debut in Bahrain, he spent one season under his belt in each of Europe’s F3 and F2, still a very ongoing job. He confessed he underestimated how tough the step-up to Formula 1 is, and his first season was a punitive experience with too many mistakes. However, he gradually learned as Pierre Guthrie left for Alpine at the end of 2022.
The first two weekends of the year show that. In Australia, he ran in the top six on lap 44 until the rain returned. The team flip-floped with strategy, leaving him long while the other teams called out the car, turning a strong result into a pointless afternoon. The same thing happened at the Chinese Grand Prix. There, the Racing Bulls stuck to a two-stop strategy, as the others adapted to one. Only his strong run in the Shanghai Sprint paid him off in a season when he was an outstanding performer. The question now is whether he can translate his great form into Red Bull Race with the Racing Bulls.
To make his promotion work, the Tsunami must at least partially replicate Verstappen’s skills to extract possibilities from difficult cars. The Red Bull RB21 has plenty of downforce and grip. The problem is that its balance limits allow for consistent access to its possibilities. Success or failure in doing so makes the difference between it being a podium threat and being exposed to the risk of first quarter elimination. Verstappen’s extraordinary ability is to drive a car in a way that minimizes limits and makes the most of its possibilities.
Especially during qualifying, Verstappen’s otherworldly ability to control the car with the brakes and turn in unlocks its performance. The RB21 is prone to both understeer and rear end snaps, but Verstappen can load the front axle upon turn-in to give the rear the necessary front-end grip without the rear coming off the line. To do this, you need incredible sensitivity, accuracy, adaptability, and the ability to almost respond to feedback from the car. This is F1, the equivalent of walking the tightrope. In contrast, Lawson falls repeatedly and therefore drives to a much lower ceiling, which is his reference to the difficulty of finding a “sweet spot” in this car.
This is not just a problem with cars developed for Verstappen, which thrives on a powerful front end and can control the resulting rear end instability. Such dynamics can be the highest cap on performance, but this requires control over amazing talent. However, with the RB21, Verstappen faces even more difficult challenges with the car. His driving is a sensitive form of bullying that goes beyond most.
Can the horned dad do what Verstappen does? That’s unlikely given Verstappen, 27, is one of the greatest ever in Grand Prix racing history, and a handful of drivers have his abilities. A more appropriate question is whether the hornda can approximate the Verstappen technique sufficiently enough for Job Red Bull to require. It is usually about three-thirds off by the team and frames normal points as banking, but as a race driver with unwavering confidence, Tsunoda himself will doubt himself to do more.
Last year there is a reference point that was the post-season Abu Dhabi test. Tsunoda recorded 127 laps at Red Bull in 2024. This is not an opportunity offered by Red Bull, but a boost from power unit supplier Honda, and has supported Tsunoda since its early days at Single Theatre. So, Tsunoda claimed to feel comfortable in the car and was able to push it to the limit.
“I think so — I didn’t have much trouble adjusting,” Tsunoda said. “I didn’t have a lot of dirty laps. I could drive consistently over long runs and quickly felt the limits of the car. If I’m not confident in the car, I can’t feel the limits.”
Tsunoda showed he could, but Die had already been cast and a decision had been made for Red Bull. Lawson replaced Sergio Perez, subject to being finalized as a Mexican. The willingness to swap with Lawson early in the season confirms that Tsunoda has done a good job in Abu Dhabi.
Tsunoda is more qualified for the challenge than he had been a few years ago, and was promoted to the Red Bull races due to the experiences his two predecessors, Alex Albon and Pierre Guthrie. Horned horns are the late breakers due to trends. When I asked him about it in November 2023, this is how he explained his style:
“It’s stronger and faster,” Tsunoda said. “The first part is strong. I’ve never seen a driver that was stronger than me. The release part, the later part, the hell he’s good at. As a driver, you can learn something from it.”
This was an important stage in the development of the tsunami, which opened his windows. His original Formula 1 teammate Guthrie also leaned in the late breaker, but if the rear end admits that it’s predictable enough to give him confidence, then the person who attacks the corner is deceased. It expands the Zonodah toolkit as a driver and, very importantly, understands the value of using brakes to operate the car’s balance. Applying the brakes late to do what Verstappen does is not an option. Because that means you’ll have a hard time turning the car. Then, if you try to supply power, thanks to the extra locks needed to pass through the rest of the corner, you are limited to towing. The horned lies in at least how to try and achieve this.
The pressure is on, but this is a life-changing opportunity for Zonodas, who can transform themselves from an attractive midfielder to a front runner. As for experience, the timing is correct, even if it’s better to give him winter and preseason in preparation, but this is an opportunity to hurriedly prove that Guthrie, Albon, Perez and Lawson couldn’t do it in front of him.
If the Zonodah offers, it doesn’t mean it matches Verstappen, but merely means it’s a useful number two for Red Bull, then this could be an opportunity to make a career. If not, it would be a career-breaking thing, but at least he would have had a delayed opportunity to show what he could do in the kindest seat in Formula 1.