Marko: Impressive Tsunoda must improve more for Red Bull F1 seat

RB man Tsunoda broke through the apparent barrier between F1's top and bottom five teams by beating both Aston Martins in Melbourne qualifying. He also outqualified Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton by claiming eighth on the starting grid, just narrowly behind Mercedes' George Russell.

The Japanese driver couldn't keep the faster Astons of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll behind in the race, but a retirement for Max Verstappen allowed him to stay eighth on the road, moving up to seventh after Alonso's penalty.

"Every lap he was competitive and didn’t do anything wrong, he was calm," Marko praised Tsunoda's Melbourne performance talking to Motorsport.com.

Asked if weekends like Australia are helping Tsunoda stake a claim for Sergio Perez's Red Bull seat in 2025, he cautioned: "As we say, one swallow does not make a summer.

"So, he has to improve more before he can be considered in this direction."

Helmut Marko, Consultant, Red Bull Racing, Yuki Tsunoda, RB F1 Team

Photo by: Shameem Fahath

As RB leapfrogged Haas in the fight for sixth, team principal Laurent Mekies added: "Yuki executed a fast and well-controlled race to top the whole midfield group and got us our first points of the season.

"He did not put a foot wrong all weekend, and with calm and determination got faster session after session."