Yuki Tsunoda’s radio conservation with Christian Horner and Sam Wood after the Bahrain qualifying comes to light

Yuki Tsunoda’s radio exchange with the Red Bull pit wall following the Bahrain Grand Prix qualification session has surfaced. The 24-year-old secured a spot in Q3 for the first time since his promotion to the team ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix.

Tsunoda, who had experienced a positive start to the 2025 Formula 1 season with Racing Bulls, has found it largely difficult to adjust to the demands of the RB21 car of his new team. On his debut for the team at his home race, he could only qualify in 15th place before piloting his car to a 12th-place finish during the Grand Prix.

However, Tsunoda overcame what was shaping up to be another difficult weekend with the Red Bull team to qualify in P10 for the main race at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Following the qualifying session, the Japanese driver’s radio exchange with his team surfaced. In communication with his team’s pit wall, as shared on X (formerly Twitter) by user Hawk9248, his race engineer, Richard Wood, congratulated him, saying:

"P10, P10 today, decent job today."

Team Principal Christian Horner added:

"Well done, Q3 Yuki, that’s progress."

Tsunoda responded, acknowledging the improvement:

“Yeah, progress, step by step, thank you.”

The 2018 Japanese F4 Champion will now focus on the possibility of achieving points for the Red Bull team at the Sakhir race. Tsunoda previously achieved points finishes at the Bahrain Grand Prix in the 2021 and 2022 seasons during his stint with AlphaTauri RBPT.

Yuki Tsunoda explains how Racing Bull differs from Red Bull’s operations

Yuki Tsunoda during the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain - Qualifying - Source: Getty

Yuki Tsunoda has touched on what he deems as the difference between the Red Bull team and its sister team, Racing Bulls. The 24-year-old recently completed a switch between both teams ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix.

Tsunoda, who replaced Liam Lawson at Red Bull, detailed what he considers to be the difference between the trackside operations of both teams and how the Milton Keynes team can make things a little easier.

Sharing his thoughts ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying via RacingNews365, he stated:

"It is a completely different approach. I feel like VCARB will tell us how to do it, and Red Bull is more like they can adjust it from the out lap. It's quite a different approach there, and I wouldn't say which is better or not, to be honest.

"There are a couple of things that feel like VCARB is doing an easier approach for the driver, more than Red Bull. I think Max [Verstappen] has had that process for nine years, so he's just able to naturally do it.

"I probably have a little bit of digging to warm up [to it], what kind of approach I should take, and it's an ongoing process—how we can do better as a team to make it a little bit easier."

The Japanese driver’s acclimatization process to his new team has largely not been the smoothest, and during the practice session of the Bahrain GP, he missed his pit box while driving through the pit lane. Tsunoda, however, will hope to put all the talks of his early struggles behind him with a statement performance at the Sakhir circuit.