Red Bull boss takes blame for Yuki Tsunoda’s Dutch GP woes

Yuki Tsunoda finished P9 at the 2025 Dutch GP after starting the race in P12. Since replacing Liam Lawson at Red Bull, it was only the fourth race weekend where the Japanese driver finished in the points. However, it was a race of what could've been for Tsunoda as Laurent Mekies came out and detailed the strategy behind the Red Bull driver's struggles.

The 25-year-old has struggled in the second Red Bull, much like the previous drivers who partnered Max Verstappen. The Dutch GP result was only Tsunoda's fourth points finish (not including sprint races) in the 13 weekends he's raced in the Red Bull colors. Verstappen, on the other hand, finished on the podium at Zaandvoort.

Yuki Tsunoda started P12 at the Dutch GP on the soft tires and was running inside the points before his first pitstop. Red Bull’s newly appointed Team Principal, Laurent Mekies, who replaced Christian Horner, came out and detailed how the pit strategy, along with the timing of the safety car, put the Japanese driver at a disadvantage.

“Yuki was a bit unfortunate with the first safety car timing because he was one of the one of two cars, [it] was him and Charles I think that had pitted before. So he lost like four or five positions, just because everybody got a cheap [pit] stop. But before that, he was in front of Antonelli. So if you look at the normal cycle, he would probably be around P7 [at the] end of the race. So he got a bit unfortunate there.” Mekies told the media at the Dutch GP

F1 Grand Prix of Netherlands - Source: Getty

Lewis Hamilton crashed out of the race on Lap 23, right after Yuki Tsunoda made his pitstop, which gave a cheap pitstop to the drivers he was racing. Yet, the Japanese driver was able to make his way up the grid and finish in the points, but was also aided by the crashes and penalties faced by the drivers ahead of him. However, the unfortunate safety car timing wasn't the only thing that held Tsunoda back.

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Laurent Mekies detailed Yuki Tsunoda's issues during the final stint at the Dutch GP

After making the final pitstop at the Dutch GP, Yuki Tsunoda came out behind Oliver Bearman, Lance Stroll, and Fernando Alonso. While both Bearman and Stroll were able to overtake the Spaniard, who was on older tires, Tsunoda reported issues with the power unit. Laurent Mekies came out and detailed this issue after the race, as he said,

“It was not a PU problem, just to make things clear," said Mekies. We were locked into the wrong map after the final stop.Basically, when you are in the pit lane, you are changing maps, and if you don't change back, you are locked into it for the rest of the time. That's what happened. So he basically drove the final part with a really, really not friendly throttle map.”

Tsunoda is currently the last full-time driver in the F1 standings, sitting P19 with just 12 points to his name.