13/04/2025 08:20
Yuki Tsunoda has asserted he will not "rush" his adaptation to the
Red Bull team following his positive qualifying outing in Bahrain.
The Japanese driver progressed into Q3 around the Bahrain
International Circuit, marking the first time the second Red Bull
car reached the final stage of qualifying this year. His best
effort was still significantly down on team-mate Max Verstappen who
himself could only place his RB21 in seventh place. While Tsunoda
was left wanting a better result than 10th, the 24-year-old took
comfort in the step forward made from free practice. "I'll take
it," Tsunoda told Sky F1 . "Obviously, as a driver, you want more.
"But considering what I had in free practice and also considering
it's [just] the second race [with Red Bull], I'll still take it,
going through to Q3. "It's just difficult. It's not easy to be in
the window that this car operates, which is quite narrow." Tsunoda
outlined he is still experimenting with how to extract pace from
the car and asserted he will not take any shortcuts to get
comfortable. "I'm trying lots of things to be in the window
consistently," he said. "It's natural, having ups and downs, which
I had in every practice. "I still take it, to be in Q3 at least. I
just won't rush it and progress step by step." When asked what he
is expecting in the race on Sunday, Tsunoda replied: "[The] long
runs in FP2 were not good. But at the same time, the car is
different as well. "The run I had then was not amazing. So I just
have to tune it slightly more, as a driver and also the car. "But I
have OK confidence - not great - but OK confidence."
