New Delhi: “This situation is just wild,” Yuki Tsunoda shared with F1.com, commenting on the current state of affairs.

On February 18, Liam Lawson was introduced as Red Bull’s second driver alongside four-time world champion Max Verstappen at a grand event in London’s O2 Arena. Despite having only 11 races under his belt, the New Zealander was selected over Tsunoda, who has been competing with the sister team (now called Racing Bulls) for four consecutive seasons.

The 23-year-old Lawson certainly displayed promise during his 11 Grands Prix, scoring points three times even though he didn’t have the fastest car, which led Red Bull’s management to believe he could be a great match for Verstappen.

However, just two races into the season, Lawson was let go after two lackluster performances in Australia and China where he didn’t score any points.

Formula 1 is a challenging arena for drivers, and Red Bull is even more demanding. Over the years, we’ve seen numerous drivers rise and fall since eight-time race winner Daniel Ricciardo departed from the Milton Keynes team at the end of 2018.

Since then, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, and now Lawson have come and gone. Only the seasoned Sergio Perez has managed to stay for four seasons. While Perez kept up with the pace—though never quite matching Verstappen—in his first three years at Red Bull, 2024 turned out to be a complete disaster for him.

Not only did he fail to win a single race that year, but the Mexican also ended up in a disappointing eighth place while his teammate clinched the world championship with the same car.

The reality is that driving the Red Bull isn't exactly a walk in the park. "For me, it’s pretty straightforward; the car is just tough to fully master and gain confidence in — the issues I faced were even acknowledged by Adrian (Newey, the former design chief)," Perez shared with F1.com.

What complicates things for the second driver is that the car is tailored to Verstappen's style, who has led Red Bull back to the forefront after a decade-long hiatus since Sebastian Vettel's glory days, followed by the Lewis Hamilton-Mercedes dominance.

Verstappen favors a sharper front end, which tends to make the rear end a bit unstable. Most drivers aim for a balanced setup to ensure their car is manageable at speeds over 350kph.

To put it simply, think of a sharper front end like cranking up the sensitivity on your mouse; it starts moving all over the place, as Albon, who scored two podiums in the Red Bull, recently explained in a podcast.

Now, Tsunoda is venturing into uncharted territory. He’s watched former teammates Gasly and Lawson get picked over him in recent years, only to see them get dropped later. Now, he’s stepping into their roles.

The Japanese driver has matured significantly since his earlier days as a hot-headed rookie, often shouting expletives over the team radio. He had speed but was unpredictable, frequently going off track or crashing, which led former AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost to insist he relocate to the team base in Faenza, Italy.

Red Bull is known for their strategic decisions. They faced heavy criticism in 2016 when they demoted Daniil Kvyat, replacing him with Verstappen at the Spanish Grand Prix. And as they say, the rest is history. Verstappen went on to fend off two fierce Ferraris from Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel, becoming the youngest winner in F1 at just 18 years and 228 days old.

This time, Tsunoda is set to make his Red Bull debut at his home Grand Prix in Japan, right in front of his enthusiastic fans at the famous Suzuka Circuit.

In total, twenty other Japanese drivers have competed in F1, starting with Hiroshi Fushida in 1975. Satoru Nakajima was the first to score points in 1987, and Aguri Suzuki made history by being the first to stand on the podium in 1990.

However, no Japanese driver has ever raced for a top team like Red Bull, especially in a car that clinched the drivers’ world championship the year before. While it’s a challenging task for Tsunoda to get the hang of the Red Bull, it also presents an incredible chance for him to become the first Asian driver to win a Formula 1 race.

“I’m really looking forward to driving alongside Verstappen. He’s probably the best driver on the current grid. I’ll soak up as much knowledge as I can from him, like how he drives and how he gets the most out of the car, so we’ll see,” Tsunoda shares.

The big question is, can Tsunoda achieve what many of his predecessors couldn’t?

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