Tsunoda issues Verstappen ‘won’t make life easy’ Red Bull warning

Yuki Tsunoda backs himself to take the fight to Max Verstappen if he were promoted to the Red Bull seat alongside the Dutchman.

Speaking to RacingNews365 in an exclusive interview, the RB driver shared his belief that he would not “make life easy” for the triple-world drivers’ champion, despite the 26-year-old having crushed his team-mates of late.

Having graduated to F1 in 2021 with AlphaTauri, Tsunoda has spent his entire four-year F1 career racing for Red Bull’s second team.

Fast but inconsistent over his first couple of seasons, the Japanese driver took a step forward in the early part of 2023, handily out-performing the over-matched Nyck de Vries, managing to squeeze results out of an under-developed car.

He bettered Daniel Ricciardo, who was jettisoned in mid-season, towards the end of the year as the AlphaTauri improved and carried that momentum into the current campaign.

To many, the additional forward step in performance he has taken this season – against a team-mate vying for Sergio Perez’s seat – has thrust the Japanese driver into the future-Red-Bull-driver conversation. 

However, the team itself remains unconvinced and there are reports that Red Bull does not believe the 24-year-old has the right demeanour to face Verstappen head-to-head, instead choosing preferring reserve driver Liam Lawson as competition to Ricciardo as a would-be Perez replacement.

Despite the noise, and perceived lack of realistic progression opportunities to the Milton Keynes-based team, Tsunoda feels he could be a match for the Dutchman.

“I think I can fight hard with him,” the Japanese driver contends when asked for his thoughts on the hypothetical scenario. “I won’t make life easy for him, for sure.

“Obviously, he’s very fast and he’s very consistent. So drivers’ championship-wise, I wouldn’t say I have massive confidence that I can straight away beat him in the drivers’ championship from the first year.”

Where Tsunoda feels he can learn from Verstappen

Despite the confidence in his own abilities and the belief he could, at least in time, go toe-to-toe with Verstappen at Red Bull, Tsunoda is acutely aware of the opportunity to learn being partnered with the Dutch driver would present.

Singling out the 61-time grand prix winner’s knack for mastering all and changing weather conditions, the Japanese driver underscored his point by highlighting how Verstappen’s deftness for difficult track conditions allows him to excel in environments where success is more greatly reduced to individual ability.

“I have confidence that I can fight hard against him, and [there is] a lot of things I can learn, especially consistency with any conditions like half-wet, dry, dry-wet, wet conditions,” he explains.

“Multiple condition changes, he’s always somehow adapted really, really well. That’s why he was very consistent last year, being able to 19 races and last year, there were a lot of multiple weather changes [during races] and those moments won’t be as much car-performance dominated.

“If you’re a really bad driver and driving a good car, you’re still bad driver and will easily lose positions, so that’s why he’s [Verstappen] able to win consistently. So, those things, for sure, I can learn a lot.”