Tsunoda reveals support from Perez and Gasly ahead of his debut weekend with Red Bull

Ahead of his debut weekend with Red Bull at the Japanese Grand Prix, Yuki Tsunoda has revealed that he actually received some pieces of advice from former Red Bull drivers Pierre Gasly and Sergio Perez.

Following a difficult opening period to the season for Liam Lawson, Red Bull Racing have made the decision that from the 2025 Japan Grand Prix, Yuki Tsunoda will be promoted to the Milton Keynes-based outfit while the New Zealander will return to Racing Bulls.

Since the announcement, the Japanese driver has completed a second seat fit as he has already performed one earlier during the weekend which was necessary because he fulfils the role of reserve driver at Red Bull.

Tsunoda, who lives in Italy next to Racing Bull's Faenza headquarters, took part in a Honda event in its Aoyama headquarters where he said that he is welcoming the pressure associated with being Max Verstappen's team-mate and driving Red Bull's troublesome car.

Asked about his reactions after he got the phone call from Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, Tsunoda said that while he was happy, he was asked to hold the information back.

"He wanted me to be very confidential, so literally I didn’t call anyone. Even though I called – well, I won’t say here – I’m just kidding, I really didn’t say anything, not even to my parents. Actually, I told them maybe the day before the news came out. So that’s it.

"And yeah, I got a message from Pierre [Gasly], that he wanted to call me about the experience he had in Red Bull, about the things he should have done in Red Bull and he wanted to share a couple of ideas he thought could work for the coming races in Red Bull.

"That was very nice of him and very useful tips. I also got support from Checo as well. All Red Bull family drivers gave me supportive messages. Those two have been very supportive to me, and I really appreciate it. They’re drivers I respect a lot, so I’m very happy,"

Yuki, you’ve benefited from the fairly brutal decision to drop Liam. In that process, Red Bull passed you over originally, then suddenly dropped Liam to replace you. How much confidence do you have in the way the decision-making process is handled at Red Bull?

Having missed out on a possible promotion from Racing Bulls to Red Bull at the end of last season, Tsunoda insisted that it has been "brutal" for him to accept that Lawson would be able to make the step up from the Faenza-based team to the Milton Keynes-based squad.

"Well, for me at least, it was brutal enough last year at the end of the season when they chose Liam over me. Yeah. It is what it is. I’m sure Liam also understands how quickly things can change within our structure. That’s one of the reasons we succeed, but also one of the reasons why we tend to get a little more attention with those situations.

"I’m not saying I have the confidence that I can perform straight away like Max, but I have confidence that I can do something different – hopefully – compared to other drivers that will be in the car. If I didn’t have confidence, I wouldn’t be wearing this. I would have stayed in Racing Bulls.

"Racing Bulls already have such a good car, and I understand how they extract performance in every race so far but because I wanted to have a new challenge, and I have good confidence to challenge myself, so that’s why I’m wearing this and hitting the track with a different livery.

Asked about his sentiments regarding Red Bull's RB21 that Lawson found very tricky to drive, Tsunoda said that the simulation work had indicated that he would not encounter serious issues with the handling of the car.

"First of all, I didn’t feel yet the exact trickiness that the drivers are saying. I have a bit of an idea from the simulator but it’s always a bit different from simulator to real car, so I’ll see after FP1 if I either have to change set-up.

"But I don’t think I’ll have to change my driving style because in the end so far it works well I guess with VCARB, otherwise I wouldn’t be here wearing this logo. So I will just do whatever I was doing previously and I’ll just go step by step to build the pace and everything. Let’s see.

"Maybe I don’t have to do that. Maybe the car is straightaway good. I think Red Bull had pretty good performance last season, both cars, so I’m quite looking forward to it," concluded Tsunoda.