Red Bull drop latest Yuki Tsunoda verdict after postponing 2026 decision

Red Bull were impressed with Yuki Tsunoda’s performance at the Mexico City Grand Prix despite the fact he failed to score points.

Tsunoda narrowly missed out on in Q3 but ran inside the points in the first stint at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and had been battling with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, before eventually coming home 11th.

The Japanese driver is continuing to fight for his F1 future but Red Bull have delayed their decision on their 2026 driver line-up to focus all their efforts on trying to deliver Max Verstappen a fifth world championship.

There is an expectation within the paddock that Tsunoda will be replaced at Red Bull by Isack Hadjar for next season. With Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad tipped for F1 promotion with Racing Bulls, the final seat could be a straight battle between Tsunoda and Liam Lawson.

But Red Bull will wait until after the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to make a final call.

“Yuki had his best weekend in a long time. We have said that a few times, but it is true,” Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said in Mexico. 

“He was very, very close in quali to Max, I think it was two tenths in Q2. Today, the first stint was very, very strong as well – two tenths, three tenths from Max, on the same very long first stint on the medium.

“Then after, you know, fair enough, we left him out a bit longer because it was an advantage for us to do that, and we had a slightly long pitstop. So we killed a bit a few points that he would have scored on merit.

“And of course, it's one of the reasons why we want to take a bit more time before we make a decision on the drivers. Yuki is making steps forward, the other kids are making steps forward as well, so we have no reason to rush the decision. We will take a bit more time.”

Tsunoda frustrated to miss out on ‘easy points’

Tsunoda was left frustrated at the end of Sunday’s race and felt Red Bull had thrown away “easy points”.

He was on the same strategy as teammate Verstappen but pitted later than his rivals and came out in traffic, meaning Tsunoda was unable to utilise the extra pace from his soft tyres.

“Today was easy points, we just threw it away,” Tsunoda said. "It is what it is, it’s still racing. The positive is the pace was pretty okay, so something to take.

“Just keep progressing and keep learning, and that is what I’m doing. But this kind of situation, missing out on points that were easy, and we could take today, P8, P7, I don’t know. Frustrating.”