Yuki Tsunoda: “Changing his emotions” after Daniel Ricciardo clash

Yuki Tsunoda will make his Red Bull debut this weekend at the Japanese Grand Prix. Replacing Liam Lawson after just three races of the 2025 season ahead of his home race, Tsunoda will finally sit beside Max Verstappen - something that likely wouldn't have happened had he not have made the conscious decision to change his mindset, according to the driver. 

On entering Formula 1 in 2021, the young Japanese driver quickly earned the reputation of being the firecracker of the grid. With colourful language and unfiltered frustrations across his team radio, his entertaining outbursts became a staple of the Red Bull sister team. 

Despite the fan amusement, this wasn't good for the team or the driver, and a moment came when Tsunoda thought best to change his ways, especially if he wanted to gain access to the coveted Red Bull seat. During the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix, the driver was ordered to let team-mate Daniel Ricciardo pass. He did, but on the cool down lap he dangerously divebombed the Australian. 

Ricciardo, avoiding the aggressive driving, wasn't happy: "What the f*** is wrong? I'll save it... f***ing helmet."

This was a watershed moment for Tsunoda, who from that point decided to grasp control of his emotions.

"My mindset would be to take my stress out on the track and then focus afterwards," he admitted to The Independent. "These days, F1 is more political and has more sponsors. You need to find a balance. You don't want a driver shouting emotions… the team wants to hear specific feedback.

Yuki Tsunoda, RB F1 Team

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

"I had to change my approach for the future, after what happened with Daniel in Bahrain last year. Otherwise, I wouldn't be sticking around in F1. It's the one area I've worked really hard at – and it's helped change my mindset and be more serious."

This change didn't go unnoticed, with Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer telling PlanetF1 that he'd improved substantially. 

“There is so little of that outrage that he [had] because he understood. He understood that every F was costing him a tenth. Yuki knows, and he’s there.”

After consistently outperforming his team-mates at Racing Bulls, Tsunoda was finally promoted to the Red Bull team for this weekend. 

"When I first got the call, I thought: 'Wow, this is going to be interesting.' I just felt: 'I will switch to the other team'," he said in front of Motorsport.com. "Of course, I was happy about joining Red Bull, but when I thought about it carefully, the idea of suddenly racing for Red Bull at the Japanese Grand Prix felt so unreal."

The driver will be wanting to prove himself in front of Japan this weekend. But will the challenging RB21 let him show off his full potential?