Tsunoda: Adapting to RB21 like a ‘science room’ of ups and downs

Yuki Tsunoda admits that adapting to Red Bull’s notoriously demanding RB21 has required a complete rethink of his approach to car set-up, describing his early learning phase as a “science room – where sometimes it’s good, and sometimes it’s bad”.

The Milton Keynes-based outfit’s contender is a far cry from the Racing Bulls machinery he’d grown accustomed to.

His debut last week at Suzuka, his home circuit, should have been a moment of pride, but the reality was less poetic.

Save for FP1, his sessions were a mess – Jack Doohan’s crash, Fernando Alonso’s AMR25 stuck in the gravel, and bizarre grass fires triggering red flags left Tsunoda with precious little track time to bond with the car.

The clock was ticking, and the RB21 wasn’t revealing its secrets easily.

Grappling with the RB21

Ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix, Tsunoda sat down with F1.com and laid bare the steep learning curve he is currently navigating.

“A lot of learning I did, but most of the learning I had is too early stages to conclude. I’ve just done four, five sessions, almost four sessions because of lots of red flags,” he admitted.

The fragmented practice time at Suzuka had robbed him of the laps needed to feel at home in the RB21. Every session felt like a race against time, not just the other drivers.

The car’s set-up was proving to be his biggest puzzle. Tsunoda had spent years honing his approach at Racing Bulls, dialing in a balance that suited his aggressive, instinctive driving style. But the RB21 didn’t care for nostalgia.

“I just need to do more laps, but the main learning in terms of car the set-up, I would say maybe I have to take a little bit of a different approach [from] how I used to take in the Racing Bulls – the set-up I used to like, the car balance,” he explained.

The old tricks weren’t working. The RB21 demanded a rethink, a shift in philosophy that Tsunoda is still grappling to understand.

Like a Science Experiment on Wheels

The deeper he digs, the more elusive the answers have become. Tsunoda’s frustration is tinged with curiosity, as if he were unraveling a mystery with no clear solution.

“I think the car is able to achieve the same balance that I used to have at Racing Bulls, but it not always helps the performance. I just have to dig in further, I just don’t know what set-up will make the car faster,” he confessed.

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Every tweak to the suspension, every adjustment to the aero, felt like a gamble. One session the car would sing; the next, it would bite. He likened the process to a chaotic experiment.

“It feels like a science room with lots of chemicals where sometimes it goes good, sometimes it goes bad. I think it’s just natural, because jumping into a completely new car [there is] always this up and down,” he said.

The RB21 is a volatile concoction, and Tsunoda is still learning which ingredients to mix. Each session is a step closer to cracking the code, but the finish line keeps shifting.

The target in Bahrain

The RB21 isn’t a podium contender in Tsunoda’s hands – at least not yet – and he isn’t about to kid himself about that reality.

“What I want to achieve this weekend is Q3 and points,” he said. “I think as much as I want to say a podium or whatever, we know that the car is not easy to operate in a high performance window,” he said.

Nevertheless, the goal is clear: qualify well, score points, and stay close enough to his teammate, Max Verstappen, to play a supporting role in the race.

Tsunoda’s focus isn’t just on personal glory. He sees the bigger picture.

“I have to still learn about the car, so if I get points or [can] be closer to Max to be able to help him in the race, and go into Q3, that would be a good target,” he noted.

Every lap is a chance to learn, to adapt, to inch closer to mastering the RB21. The car might be a puzzle, but Tsunoda is determined to solve it – one lap, one tweak, one race at a time.

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