2025 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[Sergej]

[...]

thank you for providing this interview Wouter, very interesting

one thing I don't agree with Dr. Marko, he basically said "We didn't choose Yuki after Abu Dhabi test because he still had ups and downs, but now he's a stable driver" how can you possibly assess a driver's stability in just two race time period ? in my book, stability means a longer period than just two races....

another very interesting thing from this interview, seems that this year Red Bull have already written off the WCC and they are focusing from the get go on the WDC only, this might help in the title fight, if there will be one (which at the moment isn't there).

[Bill]

Dude. Me personally, you have the wrong idea if you think that I don’t want Verstappen. It don’t really matter to me because Mercedes results and victories is what I care about, but I guess I’m in defense for Russell which is not the case. Huge misunderstanding.

This is about Max, and I’m being very realistic about his intentions, if you look at it from a different perspective, Aston Martin is the much better fit for him even if Toto (Which he probably won’t now) gets him. But that’s if Max doesn’t to stay in F1, Aston Martin has a WEC program for LeMans endurance.

Which I don’t know how any of you are not getting.

Max going to another team would be to win in F1, not for WEC or anything else really. Merc with their winning pedigree and engine program presents a far better alternative than Aston who have shown nothing except a proclivity to throw money at big names. And Honda was late to join the regs, I doubt they are on the same page as Merc in the engine development. My final prediction is that he stays at RB if things go fairly well this year and their 2026 engine shows decent promise, all else he leaves for Merc.

To be fair to Aston, Mercedes was once Brawn, which was once Earth Dreams Honda, which was crap.
So if Aston has the right resources, there is no reason why they cannot make the step up to be the next Brawn or Mercedes. 2023 showed they have the talent to produce a fast car, but did not have the organization to continuously develop. With Newey and Cowell, I do not think that team is going to stand still.

Honda had their up and down which but at one point build a car that finished p2 on constructors and build that Brawn car that finished champion so they went crap.the made mistake when they brought a japanese as tech director.

[Rikhart]

As I have also explained many times, a small summary (or highlights) in English would have been enough.
Full translation like here? Very welcome, but perhaps overkill, it is a massive amount of work.
I am not assuming that nobody can translate, but you cannot assume either that everybody can translate. And it is forum rules: English content without leaving the post.

I think he was talking about the automatic translation subtitles in youtube? Which everyone can do, and usually works great.

[hollus]

“automatic translation subtitles in youtube“

Which my iphone with Safari refuses to offer, checked in that specific video.
Anyways, I think he meant in a right side toolbar in the original “formel1.de” piece… but my iphone with safari once more refuses to offer such tool.
Internet experience varies depending on your device, country, whether you are logged in or not…
And click-newwindow-click-scroll-click-click is way too far, even it it worked, which often it does not.
And for the record, this is not about me, I can read the original German just fine.

[Emag]

[...]

thank you for providing this interview Wouter, very interesting

one thing I don't agree with Dr. Marko, he basically said "We didn't choose Yuki after Abu Dhabi test because he still had ups and downs, but now he's a stable driver" how can you possibly assess a driver's stability in just two race time period ? in my book, stability means a longer period than just two races....

another very interesting thing from this interview, seems that this year Red Bull have already written off the WCC and they are focusing from the get go on the WDC only, this might help in the title fight, if there will be one (which at the moment isn't there).

Honestly, it makes no logical sense for them to have promoted Liam instead of Yuki to begin with. Yuki had the experience and he beat both teammates they put against him in the junior team the last two years. Should have let Liam settle in properly and then think about promoting him if Yuki hadn't worked out this year.

There's only one reason why they wouldn't promote him and at the risk of using an offensive word, I will just say it's not exactly surprising when one of the guys making the seat decisions at one point light heartedly insinuated that Perez's head could never match Max's focus because he is south american.

[chrisc90]

Thanks for the video Wouter. No problems with the translation(s) here either.
Worked perfectly fine on my iPhone.

[Cs98]

[...]

thank you for providing this interview Wouter, very interesting

one thing I don't agree with Dr. Marko, he basically said "We didn't choose Yuki after Abu Dhabi test because he still had ups and downs, but now he's a stable driver" how can you possibly assess a driver's stability in just two race time period ? in my book, stability means a longer period than just two races....

another very interesting thing from this interview, seems that this year Red Bull have already written off the WCC and they are focusing from the get go on the WDC only, this might help in the title fight, if there will be one (which at the moment isn't there).

Honestly, it makes no logical sense for them to have promoted Liam instead of Yuki to begin with. Yuki had the experience and he beat both teammates they put against him in the junior team the last two years. Should have let Liam settle in properly and then think about promoting him if Yuki hadn't worked out this year.

There's only one reason why they wouldn't promote him and at the risk of using an offensive word, I will just say it's not exactly surprising when one of the guys making the seat decisions at one point light heartedly insinuated that Perez's head could never match Max's focus because he is south american.

Yes, I'm sure this was a huge consideration for Marko when he picked Perez to drive for 4 years over German Nico Hulkenberg. Or when he picked Thai driver Albon, or French-Algerian driver Hadjar, or half Indian driver Lindblad. Maybe he just has it out for the Japanese But why would you ever want to bring nuance to a topic like that on a forum like this, when you can just claim "there's only one reason" and then not even dare say it out loud.

Maybe, just maybe, they actually had real reservations about Tsunoda because he has been up and down for a long time.

[Wouter]

Thanks for the video Wouter. No problems with the translation(s) here either.
Worked perfectly fine on my iPhone.

.
Your welcome @Chris. Here also no problems with the translation on the iPhone/PC/iPad/laptop.
Only on Hollus' iPhone it does't work it seems.

[Emag]

Maybe, just maybe, they actually had real reservations about Tsunoda because he has been up and down for a long time.

And the perfect answer to that problem was promoting the guy who hadn’t finished a full season in F1 yet and didn’t even beat Yuki because reasons I guess.

[Wouter]

.

Speaking in public for the first time since the move was announced at a Honda event in its Aoyama headquarters, Tsunoda said the switch felt “'unreal” but he is still highly ambitious for his debut.

"To be honest, I never expected to be racing for Red Bull at the Japanese Grand Prix," Tsunoda said.

"This is the final year of Red Bull and Honda’s partnership, so getting to race in Suzuka as a Red Bull Racing driver feels like fate. Everything has fallen into place in just the right way for me to be standing here today.

“Of course, I was happy about joining Red Bull, but when I thought about it carefully, the idea of suddenly racing for Red Bull at the Japanese Grand Prix felt so unreal.

"I don’t want to raise expectations too much, but for this Japanese Grand Prix, I want to finish on the podium. That said, I know it won’t be easy right from the start.

“My priority is to first understand the car, how it behaves compared to the VCARB. If I can naturally enjoy driving it as I get familiar with it in FP1, then the results will follow. And if that leads to a podium finish, that would be incredible."

Tsunoda has never driven the RB21, so making his debut in Japan could be labelled a poisoned chalice. But the 24-year-old says he is embracing the enormous pressure that comes with the seat, despite its history of chewing up drivers.

"When I first got the call, I thought: 'Wow, this is going to be interesting,'" he said. "More than anything, I’m excited about the challenge ahead.

“There aren’t many moments in life where you face this kind of extreme pressure and an opportunity as big as this, so I can only imagine that it’s going to be an incredibly thrilling race.
Yuki Tsunoda at the Red Bull Showrun Taichung

"At first, I was too busy to even take the time to fully appreciate the excitement. I had to jump straight into the simulator, do seat fittings, and take care of a lot of other preparations.

“Of course, getting promoted to Red Bull is an amazing opportunity, but before anything else, I wanted to talk to my engineers and the people who had supported me. So, despite all the emotions, I actually felt quite calm.

"Since I was a reserve driver this year, I had already done a seat fitting before. But back then, I remember thinking: 'Why am I even doing this? I’m not going to be racing anyway.'"

From his simulator time, Tsunoda said he didn't find this year’s Red Bull "that challenging to drive", although he admitted his comments on last year's car - which he tested in Abu Dhabi - suiting his driving style was "a bit of a sales pitch" to Red Bull.

"I spent about two days in the simulator. From that experience, I didn’t find the car to be that challenging to drive," he explained.

"I definitely got the impression that the front-end is very responsive, as people often say. But if you ask whether it felt tricky to handle, I wouldn’t say it gave me a particularly strange feeling, at least in the simulator.

"Of course, how I want to set up the car is probably different from Max. I want to develop my own car set-up, get a good understanding of it, and gradually get up to speed from FP1."

[Cs98]

Maybe, just maybe, they actually had real reservations about Tsunoda because he has been up and down for a long time.

And the perfect answer to that problem was promoting the guy who hadn’t finished a full season in F1 yet and didn’t even beat Yuki because reasons I guess.

There is no "perfect answer" to go up against Verstappen, just a bunch of imperfect alternatives. They had Lawson and Tsunoda, they were pretty closely matched, it's not hard to see why they would view Lawson as a higher upside option if he was on Tsunoda's heels with significantly less experience. But I think it's fair to criticise the decision to not put Tsunoda in the car, there was a good case for him. But to claim that bigotry is the "only reason" he didn't get the seat is senseless and toxic. Why was that not a factor when Perez got the seat over Hulk? Or when any of those other drivers I listed got signed? And again, the performance between the two was close so it's only in hindsight the choice seems obvious. And all this before we've even seen Tsunoda drive RB21, he could end up underperforming too.

[Emag]

Maybe, just maybe, they actually had real reservations about Tsunoda because he has been up and down for a long time.

And the perfect answer to that problem was promoting the guy who hadn’t finished a full season in F1 yet and didn’t even beat Yuki because reasons I guess.

There is no "perfect answer" to go up against Verstappen, just a bunch of imperfect alternatives. They had Lawson and Tsunoda, they were pretty closely matched, it's not hard to see why they would view Lawson as a higher upside option if he was on Tsunoda's heels with significantly less experience. But I think it's fair to criticise the decision to not put Tsunoda in the car, there was a good case for him. But to claim that bigotry is the "only reason" he didn't get the seat is senseless and toxic. Why was that not a factor when Perez got the seat over Hulk? Or when any of those other drivers I listed got signed? And again, the performance between the two was close so it's only in hindsight the choice seems obvious. And all this before we've even seen Tsunoda drive RB21, he could end up underperforming too.

Hulk was borderline retired, he wasn’t a viable option. Nobody predicted him to get back full-time on the grid, but here we are. Perez on the other hand only became an option because RedBull was running out of good drivers in their academy and he had a great 2020.

As for the rest, it’s a matter of available options and constant underperformance in the second RedBull seat.

There’s always been a preference when things have been close to call. Just like it was with Yuki and Liam last year. Killing young driver’s careers for no good reason.

Even Max didn’t make it to the main team before completing at least one full season in F1.

[Cs98]

Hulk was borderline retired, he wasn’t a viable option. Nobody predicted him to get back full-time on the grid, but here we are. Perez on the other hand only became an option because RedBull was running out of good drivers in their academy and he had a great 2020.

As for the rest, it’s a matter of available options and constant underperformance in the second RedBull seat.

There’s always been a preference when things have been close to call. Just like it was with Yuki and Liam last year. Killing young driver’s careers for no good reason.

Even Max didn’t make it to the main team before completing at least one full season in F1.

Hulk was viable, but there was a better option in Perez. Max was 17 and one year out of karting, Kvyat beat Ricciardo in 2015, there was no rush to promote him in the first year.

As for the rest of it, your argument is just incoherent when we look at the facts. The last 4 drivers in that seat were Thai, Mexican, NZL and now Japanese. As for the people coming behind you have a French-Algerian, and a guy with Indian/Swedish heritage racing for the UK. Where is this "preference" in the driver selection? Utter nonsense accusation. It's a complete hodgepodge of drivers from different backgrounds, all they have in common is that RB thought they were the best available options for their team/adademy, which is why they were selected. If you had so much preference for Lawson you wouldn't axe him after two races

[Emag]

Hulk was borderline retired, he wasn’t a viable option. Nobody predicted him to get back full-time on the grid, but here we are. Perez on the other hand only became an option because RedBull was running out of good drivers in their academy and he had a great 2020.

As for the rest, it’s a matter of available options and constant underperformance in the second RedBull seat.

There’s always been a preference when things have been close to call. Just like it was with Yuki and Liam last year. Killing young driver’s careers for no good reason.

Even Max didn’t make it to the main team before completing at least one full season in F1.

Hulk was viable, but there was a better option in Perez. Max was 17 and one year out of karting, Kvyat beat Ricciardo in 2015, there was no rush to promote him in the first year.

As for the rest of it, your argument is just incoherent when we look at the facts. The last 4 drivers in that seat were Thai, Mexican, NZL and now Japanese. As for the people coming behind you have a French-Algerian, and a guy with Indian/Swedish heritage racing for the UK. Where is this "preference" in the driver selection? Utter nonsense accusation. It's a complete hodgepodge of drivers from different backgrounds, all they have in common is that RB thought they were the best available options for their team/adademy, which is why they were selected. If you had so much preference for Lawson you wouldn't axe him after two races

The thing is, you kind of spiraled out of my original comment. I put the emphasis on the comments about Perez, because it shows exactly the way Helmut thinks. Shallow and judgmental. But you kind of turned into a fully racist perspective mentioning the nationalities. And to be fair, Helmut isn't exactly an angel in that regard neither, but it's not the main point.

There's been various controversial statements that Helmut has said over the years, both on written record, and if you have had the 'pleasure' to listen to him live, on spoken record as well. There was no real reason why Yuki shouldn't have been promoted instead of Liam last year. The only problem is that Helmut has this very specific idea of a "racer's mentality" that Yuki doesn't fall into. Pretty much all drivers who have been part of the main RedBull team since Seb left, had at least some of that, with the exception of Albon probably.

The only thing I like about Helmut, is the no-bullshit policy. If you don't perform, he calls you out. But when he brings the "weak mentality" argument into the picture, then that's just purely offensive and no longer just business. It becomes a personal attack on the drivers as humans.

That's all I have to say about the situation.
I hope Yuki does well, but realistically, jumping into a difficult car to drive with no prior testing doesn't usually end well. He should have been the driver to start the season with RedBull this year.

[Cs98]

The thing is, you kind of spiraled out of my original comment. I put the emphasis on the comments about Perez, because it shows exactly the way Helmut thinks. Shallow and judgmental. But you kind of turned into a fully racist perspective mentioning the nationalities. And to be fair, Helmut isn't exactly an angel in that regard neither, but it's not the main point.

There's been various controversial statements that Helmut has said over the years, both on written record, and if you have had the 'pleasure' to listen to him live, on spoken record as well. There was no real reason why Yuki shouldn't have been promoted instead of Liam last year. The only problem is that Helmut has this very specific idea of a "racer's mentality" that Yuki doesn't fall into. Pretty much all drivers who have been part of the main RedBull team since Seb left, had at least some of that, with the exception of Albon probably.

The only thing I like about Helmut, is the no-bullshit policy. If you don't perform, he calls you out. But when he brings the "weak mentality" argument into the picture, then that's just purely offensive and no longer just business. It becomes a personal attack on the drivers as humans.

That's all I have to say about the situation.
I hope Yuki does well, but realistically, jumping into a difficult car to drive with no prior testing doesn't usually end well. He should have been the driver to start the season with RedBull this year.

I just interpreted your words. You brought up the Perez comment and said there's "only one reason" he didn't sign Tsunoda and it was too offensive to say. If "shallow and judgmental" was what you were trying to say maybe you should have said that instead of insinuating something far worse. Anyways, I put my emphasis on what drivers have actually been signed by the man across the years, seems like by far the most relevant metric for what his "preferences" are. I think we can agree on wishing the best for Tsunoda, but whether he is the right man for the job is yet to be proven. Just because Lawson wasn't the right guy it doesn't mean Tsunoda will be.