Yuki Tsunoda tries to make sense of his Austrian GP debacle

Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda had a horrendous race weekend at the 2025 Austrian Grand Prix. He was nowhere near the pace of his teammate Max Verstappen. Following that outing, he has taken the time to talk about what went wrong for him.

Tsunoda has been driving for the Milton Keynes-based outfit since Round 3 of the ongoing campaign. Back then, he replaced the now-Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson.

In Austria, Tsunoda was not able to progress beyond the Q1 session of qualifying, and during the main race, he once again didn't show much pace to make moves on the grid. He ultimately ended the race in P16.

In line with all this, the Japanese driver, via an interaction with Pit Debrief, said:

"But at the same time, the pace itself was pretty poor as well. I’m not sure what I’m doing completely wrong, to be honest, but the pace data between the level I have to be in is massive. But at the same time, I’m obviously working hard to find the reasons what is causing it, what’s the issue to cause it. Even with the data going through, it’s hard to find."

After the first 11 rounds of the 2025 Formula 1 season, Yuki Tsunoda is way down in 17th place in the Drivers' standings with only 10 points. He is behind the Alpine driver, Pierre Gasly. The Frenchman is sitting in 16th place with 11 points.

Yuki Tsunoda accepts blame for Austrian GP crash with Franco Colapinto

F1 Grand Prix of Austria - Source: Getty

While Yuki Tsunoda was left scratching his head around the timid pace he has been showing in the RB21, via the same interaction, he also admitted that he was in the wrong during the lap 31 incident with Alpine's Franco Colapinto.

The duo was fighting at a certain section of the Red Bull Ring, and while going into a turn on the inside, Tsunoda clipped the rear right tire of Colapinto's car, which spun the latter.

In line with this, Tsunoda added:

"The collision with Franco is my bad, obviously. [Given] the situation I was in, I think, [it] was quite a poor move. I must apologise to the team how I ended up."

The 2025 Formula 1 season has 13 Grand Prix remaining on the race calendar, and these are going to be extremely crucial for Yuki Tsunoda. If he is to secure a seat at Red Bull or, for that matter, on any other team for 2026, he will need to start putting out his A-game.

The upcoming British Grand Prix weekend could prove to be the best opportunity for Tsunoda to bring his 2025 season back on track. Red Bull will have high expectations from their second driver at the Silverstone racing circuit.