Tsunoda believes the RB21 was "worse for me" after "frustrating" qualifying in Saudi Arabia

09:04, 20 Apr

byOlly Darcy

Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda admitted that his RB21 setup made the car "worse" for him in a "frustrating" qualifying session at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The Japanese driver could only take P8 for Red Bull Racing around the high-speed Jeddah Corniche Circuit, while teammate Max Verstappen put together yet another stunning qualifying lap to put himself on pole position.

After replacing the demoted Liam Lawson after two Grands Prix in 2025, Tsunoda took his first points for Red Bull with a P9 at the Bahrain Grand Prix, getting to grips with the RB21 far more quickly than the New Zealander.

However, the 24-year-old still expects more from himself in his third Grand Prix for the Austrian team, disappointed that he could only put together a lap that was good enough for P8, struggling to put together consistant laps.

"It's hard to find the limit" says disappointed Tsunoda

"I had a massive snap [of oversteer] in turn 4, and it just keeps being frustrating," stated Tsunoda, talking about the nature of his RB21 during Saturday's session in the paddock to several media sources, including GPblog.

"When I push more, new, unpredictable snaps keep happening. It's really hard to know where the limit is or whatever. Obviously, that's why, when it comes to Q3, when it all counts, you push hard and you know the way and the limit, and you can squeeze the last few tenths. But currently, it's just hard to find the limit, and I just get messy laps all the time, so just really frustrated with that.

"The lap time I lost there was quite a lot. Obviously, not nine-tenths, but it's not a small lap time I lost there. I'm just really frustrated with all that," continued the Japanese driver.

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Verstappen came over the team radio during qualifying to say that his RB21 was coming towards him, guiding him to a fine P1 when the chequered flag fell. However, for Tsunoda, that was not the case.

"It was worse for me," he explained. "There's a bit of a setup difference there. Maybe I adjusted too much in the free practice conditions. At that point, the lap time is pretty okay, but when the track is getting grippier, it just starts to have a limit. I think that's the main learning I had, I guess.

"But also, this kind of limit currently... I wouldn't say I'm struggling, because I don't want to say rushed, because it's still only my third race. But currently, it's hard to find the limit and put it all together from the start — just really unpredictable so far."

With the setup struggles, Tsunoda admits that Sunday's Grand Prix may be a real struggle from down in eighth place.

"The setup also was not really thinking about the short run, actually more towards long runs. I have slightly more confidence in the pace I had in FP2, but we didn't have great pace in the long run, to be honest, so it won't be an easy race, but at least I want to get one point," the Japanese driver concluded.