Yuki Tsunoda "Ashamed" and "Very Disappointed" with Japan GP Qualifying Performance

Red Bull Racing driver Yuki Tsunoda qualified in P15, despite showing promise throughout the practice sessions.

For most of the weekend, Yuki was only a few tenths away from his teammate Max Verstappen, a truly incredible feat given that Lawson was miles off Max's pace.

The lap did not come together for Tsunoda at his home race, and he is now left needing to work his way up the grid if he wants to score points in the second Red Bull car.

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"I mean Q1 felt pretty good, I just missed the window, I guess," Tsunoda told reporters after the session.

"I think the window that this car can operate is very narrow and the warm up, probably most of the things have to be almost perfect."

"Especially warm up and especially Q2 run 2, I wasn't able to do the warm up I wanted as [the] previous run, so that makes a big difference in the end."

"So something I learned, I kind of recognised in Q2, but it was a bit too late, and it's a shame that I wasn't able to put it all together when it matters."

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A fire broke out during Q2, raising a red flag and preventing cars from continuing with their plans. Tsunoda stated that the pause affected his running, but the same was true for everyone else on the grid.

"Yeah I mean, same for everyone, I think it's not that, it's just warm up, I guess," he said.

OUT IN Q2 👇

Not the session Yuki Tsunoda would have been hoping for 😢#F1 #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/L4DNfR2IzV
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 5, 2025

"I had quite a big gust in turn 2, but [the] quite big moments I had are a bit unexpected, so hard to look through what's happened there, but at least I showed a good pace in Q1 and I feel like I had good confidence in the car."

"I'm sure it's still learning in the process I'm learning, but yeah, very ashamed, I didn't expect, to be honest, this result today."

Despite the result, Tsunoda hopes to continue adjusting to the car throughout the race, as he has had limited long runs with it.

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"I was expecting a bit more today, so that definitely makes a bit of disappointment now," he said.

"At least, I felt the last two days that if I learn more and if I'm able to sync with the car much more, I know I can excel much more consistently, which is important, so it will be an interesting race tomorrow, I mean if it's rain or whatever, I didn't have much of a long run to be honest, but I'll do my best."

Average gap between Lawson and Verstappen across Australia qualy, China sprint qualy and China qualy was 0.880s. Between Tsunoda and Verstappen here:

Q1: 0.024s
Q2: 0.498s (and failed to improve on Q1 lap)#F1 #JapaneseGP
— Luke Smith (@LukeSmithF1) April 5, 2025

Rain is likely for tomorrow at Suzuka, though it remains unclear how much it will rain during the race and what effect it will have.

A change in conditions could give Tsunoda the opportunity to move up the grid.

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