The 2025 F1 season is getting off to a great start for Racing Bulls and Yuki Tsunoda at the Australian GP. The Japanese placed himself 5th on the grid for tomorrow’s race with a timing of 1:15.670 in Q3, only 0.574s slower compared to pole sitter McLaren’s Lando Norris, and faster than both Ferrari cars.
The final Q3 lap
When reflecting on the F1 Australian GP qualifying session, Tsunoda couldn’t be happier about the results the car produced. He even thanked Norris for a tow during his final lap which he says is “magical”.
He also spoke on the car’s pace improving with each session in the print media area. In Q1, it was P7 for the 24-year-old, before getting through to the final segment in P8 by just over a tenth.
Then the brilliance of Q3 happened.
“Very happy with the results. I was able to make a step, session by session. I think the last lap was definitely the best quali lap out of any sessions so far.
“But also I got a bit of luck from Lando as well. A bit of a tow into Turn 9. I definitely appreciate him but I think overall a bit of a magical lap.Thanks to the team as well.”
Increasing competition in the midfield
The midfield is also becoming increasingly competitive with many of them placing into Q3. Both Williams drivers made a Q3 appearance with Albon behind Tsunoda in P6, and Carlos Sainz placing P10.
Tsunoda’s former teammate, Alpine’s Gasly was P9. The Racing Bulls driver recognised the incredibly close nature of things but says he enjoys the thrill and challenge this brings to the race.
“Kind of get used to this kind of tight field. Especially last year midfield was very tight.
“I knew that if I make an amazing lap it can be very good.But also if you make a mistake it can be a lot of compromise.
“So that’s kind of thrilling. I definitely enjoyed it a lot.”
It is still too early to predict how the rest of the season will pan out. But Racing Bulls will have an advantage if they can continue this positive momentum.
When asked how confident he was for the rest of the season, he replied that despite this being the best results he achieved so far in dry conditions, it wasn’t something he had expected.
“Yeah it’s early days but P5 actually even compared to last year is almost the best result even compared to the last two years.
“I was a bit worried to be honest I wasn’t going to arrive with a performance for the car after Bahrain. But I’m a bit surprised that we have a good pace consistently so far throughout the week.
“Feeling ready to fight for the season.”
Impressed by the rookies and his teammate
There are a total of 5 rookies joining the grid this season, Tsunoda’s teammate Isack Hadjar being one of them. He outplaced all of them but was also surprised with how well they performed.
He even took a moment to praise Hadjar’s performance and slipped out a swear word when talking about his Q3 feelings.
“Until Q2 you see a lot of rookies actually in the field. That was a bit unexpected.
“My teammate definitely did a really good job.
“But in Q3 because of experience I think all the experienced drivers came in at the same time. At that point I felt like I can’t fuck up.”
With the forecast suggesting that it will be a wet race tomorrow, one of the defining factors for the teams will be their planning.
Tsunoda says that they are prepared for the wet weather and are confident in the car’s performance on intermediate tyres.
“Actually we also prepared for the rain conditions as well. So to be honest in terms of set-up wise it’s not 100% focused into the dry conditions.
“So even in rainy conditions we’re kind of confident to be honest. And last year we had a really good performance for the intermediate as well.”
