Yuki Tsunoda admits Red Bull setup gamble: ‘I wanted a bit more consistency’

Yuki Tsunoda has admitted he should have taken a “different approach” to setting up his Red Bull F1 car at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Tsunoda made his debut for Red Bull at Suzuka on Sunday after being given the call-up following Liam Lawson’s tough start to the year.

While Tsunoda showed flashes of pace throughout practice, he could not make it into Q3.

Tsunoda had to settle for 14th on the grid following Carlos Sainz’s penalty for impeding in qualifying.

With overtaking almost impossible on race day, Tsunoda could only finish 12th on his Red Bull debut.

It was disappointing for Tsunoda, given that teammate Max Verstappen won the race from pole position.

1997 F1 world championJacques Villeneuve questioned Tsunoda’s “safe” setup choice of running with more downforce than Verstappen, which he felt cost the Japanese driver.

Reflecting on the race, Tsunoda conceded that the setup he ultimately chose was focused on consistency rather than ultimate speed.

In hindsight, Tsunoda would have gone for something different.

“Until FP2, [we had] lots of red flags and I wasn’t able to drive properly with such a limited time. I was already doing a lot of setup changes from FP1 to FP2,” Tsunoda said.

“Already FP2 to FP3, I did a massive change as well. I started to have a bit of confusion there. And in the end, I just wanted to have a bit more consistency.

“So even though I knew it was going to be a compromise in the dry, especially in the race, I just wanted to have a bit of consistency. And I felt at that point that for qualifying at least, I had a bit more confidence to extract performance from the package.

“So I mean, if I had one more qualifying, I would do a different approach. But I think it was the best choice I could have done in that scenario.”

Marko encouraged by Tsunoda

While the result wasn’t what Tsunoda wanted, Helmut Marko was fairly encouraged by the pace he showed throughout the weekend.

As quoted by F1.com, Marko said: “He lost out by making a mistake in Qualifying at Turn 1, but in all the other sessions, he was pretty near two-to-three tenths to Max, and that is what we are looking for.”

Red Bull will need Tsunoda to score points in the coming races as they continue to fall further behind McLaren in the constructors’ standings.

In the drivers’ championship, Verstappen is just one point off Lando Norris after three races.