Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has confirmed that “intensive discussions” have been taking place behind the scenes at the Milton Keynes outfit with Yuki Tsunoda.
The Japanese driver replaced Liam Lawson at Red Bull after just two race weekends of the 2025 Formula 1 season. But, since his arrival, he has only scored seven points in 10 races.
With Tsunoda struggling to get to grips with the RB21, Red Bull has worked to support the Japanese driver while he’s also been talking with sports psychologists, according to Marko. This has given the advisor optimism for the rest of the season.
“Yuki Tsunoda has struggled on some GP weekends, but we already saw an upward trend in England: the gap to Max was smaller than before in most of the free practice sessions, and he was able to start from eleventh place on the grid in England,” Marko explained in his Speedweek column.
“We’ve had intensive discussions with Yuki; he also works with sports psychologists. Unfortunately, like Max, he had no chance in the race with this wing. But we’re noticing an improvement in performance, and we’re optimistic that this will soon be reflected in the points.”
McLaren has had a strong start to the season. Oscar Piastri leads the drivers’ standings with 234 points, with his team-mate Lando Norris closely behind with 226 points. As a result, the Woking-based squad is currently first in the constructors’ championship with 460 points.
While taking into account the current success of McLaren, Marko is not ruling out the championship just yet.
Helmut Marko, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images
“So ultimately, 5th place went to Max at Silverstone, just a week before the early retirement in Austria due to being hit by Antonelli. This doesn’t make it any easier for Verstappen to defend his title, but we’re far from writing off the title.
“We still have 12 grands prix and four sprints ahead of us, which equates to 300 World Championship points from the GPs and 32 from the sprint races. Against this backdrop, and also due to further improvements for Belgium, which should bring us closer to McLaren, we certainly don’t see the fight for the World Championship as over.”
The next round of the championship is set for 25-27 July at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.
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