Tsunoda admits ‘everything feels like I’m a rookie’ despite satisfying result in Dutch GP Sprint Qualifying

Yuki Tsunoda revealed that “everything feels like I’m a rookie” after he completed his first day of running back at Racing Bulls, with the Japanese driver eliminated in the second phase of Sprint Qualifying in Zandvoort.

It was confirmed earlier this week that Isack Hadjar would be unable to compete for Red Bull due to a wrist injury, leading to Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson stepping up to take his place. His free seat was then filled by Tsunoda, who previously spent just over four seasons at the team between 2021 and 2025.

This season, he has acted as a test and reserve driver for the sister outfits after he lost his full-time seat at Red Bull, and received a last-minute call on Tuesday that he would be racing at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Having never piloted the new 2026 cars, Tsunoda prepared as much as possible and stayed out of trouble in a damp FP1 to finish P17 before improving to P12 in Sprint Qualifying, just 0.009s away from Lawson’s effort.

Asked whether he was surprised at how successful the day had been, he responded: “Yeah, firstly, especially the rain condition, it was pretty surprising the amount of pace I had. I mean, I guess the rain condition I heard was also pretty much the first time for everyone [in 2026], so it was a little bit more equalised.

“Considering it’s my first time in this car… But yeah, it was a bit more work I had to put in the dry condition. To be honest, everything feels like [I’m a] rookie, like brake pressure, everything, is a lot different to previous years.

“You have two sets of tyres, and you don’t want to damage the tyres straight away. It was pretty tricky. In the end, I’m pretty satisfied with the performance I had in Sprint Qualifying. Obviously a couple more things that I can improve. [In] this kind of format, you want to gradually build.”

He was outqualified by team mate Arvid Lindblad, who will line up in the P10 grid slot for the Sprint, but Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer stated earlier in the day that the team are trying to reduce the pressure on him by directing his attention towards Qualifying and the Grand Prix.

As Tsunoda mentioned, building up slowly will be crucial if he has any chance of contributing to Racing Bulls’ impressive points-scoring streak – they are currently on a run of seven rounds with at least one driver in the top 10.

The main obstacle is getting to grips with how much the cars have changed compared to when he last drove in F1, with Tsunoda admitting that Friday’s running was primarily about learning.

“It was very early stages, so it’s a bit different, and maybe it’s not fair to say, but most of the drivers were a little bit struggling with the balance and the brake performance, the amount of downforce that this car lost compared to last year,” he explained.

“I need to quickly adapt. I’ve driven last year’s car, which is probably one of the fastest cars in history, right? I enjoy it so much with the TPCs [Testing of Previous Cars]. Going to this car feels a lot different, especially the high-speed corners.

“This kind of traditional track, there’s not much room in the run-off areas, so you want to gradually build up. I enjoy this process. My main objective is tomorrow in Qualifying. So far, I think I’m able to build up session by session pretty good. I’m excited for a long run tomorrow, that’s what I need for all of the data before Qualifying and the race.”