Tsunoda ‘pissed off' at losing Red Bull seat; proud of pace

Yuki Tsunoda says he is "pissed off" at having lost his Red Bull seat to Isack Hadjar at the end of this season, and believes the pace he showed relative to that of teammate Max Verstappen is something he can be proud of.

Red Bull will promote Hadjar alongside Verstappen in 2026, with Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad making up the Racing Bulls line-up and Tsunoda dropping to a reserve role.Tsunoda only received confirmation of the change from Red Bull team advisor Helmut Marko on Sunday night in Qatar, and admitted it hasn’t fully sunk in that he’s preparing for his last race weekend for the foreseeable future at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

“Obviously I'm disappointed, and pissed off,” Tsunoda said. “It was right after the race from Helmut [that I was told], privately, that I’m not racing next year.

“Surprisingly I'm OK. I mean, not OK, but… the day after, the next morning, I ordered breakfast as usual, same food, and probably I'm not recognizing that it will be the last race, at least for next year. So maybe I'll feel more after Abu Dhabi, but that's how it went and how I feel now.”

Tsunoda said he was focused on trying to retain his Red Bull seat because he contractually can not move elsewhere for 2026, and that he will try and use his time as reserve as productively as possible.

“I didn't have options," he said. "The thing is, my contract was there so I couldn't do much within that. I had a couple of [expressions of] interest externally, but the contract didn't really allow me to talk with them, or whatever. That's why I was fully focused on the Red Bull seat, and anyway, it was my priority for the last few years in the Red Bull family, because it's the place where I grew up as well.

"I'm excited to see from a different perspective, through different eyes, next year because it's the first time in my career that I'm not racing. I was never really sitting down in the office while people were racing, so I can't refer to it this way.

“I can see more of the view, have [the ability to hear] whatever every driver is doing, so maybe I can learn a lot of things that I never imagined, so I'm excited for that. And also I will still try to be in this shape as much as possible whenever any opportunity comes, I'll smash it with that opportunity. So until then, keep my shape good and wait for it.”

Tsunoda was promoted to Red Bull to replace Lawson two races into this year after impressing at Racing Bulls, and admitted there is part of him that wished he could have continued to perform with the junior team, even if he believes he matched up well compared to Verstappen’s pace.

“The only regret I have is missing out on that pretty good f***ing car in the VCARB," he said. "But also it’s like throwing away your kids, your baby, because it's the car that I developed with the team throughout the years since we had these regulations, and I'm sure there's my DNA inside it as well.

“So obviously missing out on that and [leaving] without finally able to get in the level that we wanted is something that I missed, but at the same time I don't regret that decision.

“The Imola [crash] is for sure something that I look back at that frustrates me a lot still, because the crash I had was very unnecessary... but also for sure, that made me take a back step in terms of the parts.

“But at the same time, if you look at the whole season, maybe the second half of the season especially, if you just look at the result of where I was in Q1 and [Verstappen is] consistently top three, top four, the result looked bad, but at the same time, if you just see the performance side, even the times that I exited in Q1, I can't remember the last time I was four or five tenths behind.

“Once I got exactly the same car, I was very competitive with him and I think that's what this (second Red Bull) seat was struggling at. And actually I'm proud of myself, how I grew up and how I improved throughout the season.

“Max has been here for years now. He knows about this car, a lot of things. Obviously, I can't deny that he's the best driver on the grid, but at the same time, I'm happy that I'm able to catch up quite quickly at this level myself, especially this very tight field – this year is one of the tightest fields in history.”