Yuki Tsunoda “nervous” about F1 future as crunch Red Bull call nears

Yuki Tsunoda has admitted he is “nervous” about his F1 future as he awaits Red Bull’s decision on their 2026 driver line-up.

The Japanese racer was promoted to Red Bull just three races into the 2025 season as a replacement for the underperforming Liam Lawson, but just like his predecessors, Tsunoda has struggled alongside Max Verstappen.

It is widely expected that Isack Hadjar will take Tsunoda's seat at Red Bull for 2026, with Arvid Lindblad tipped to replace the impressive French rookie at sister team Racing Bulls.

Such a sequence of events would leave just one seat remaining at Racing Bulls, which would likely go to either Lawson or Tsunoda. Based on current form, Lawson appears to be the favourite to be retained.

Tsunoda has three races remaining this season to prove to Red Bull that he deserves to be in one of their four seats for 2026.

"If I say I'm not nervous, that would be a lie,” he said ahead of this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix. ”It's just a similar situation as last year or even two years ago, so to be honest, I got used to it. That's part of this Formula 1.

"The good thing is I had experience with that situation a lot of times. I know what I have to do for the next few races. In the end, those decisions I can't control, right? So, what I can control is to give the performance and give my best. That's what I enjoy, that's what I'm here for, so that's what I'm going to do.

"Obviously, I'm sure there's some bit of nerves. It's there, outside of racing especially. But at the same time, one of my strengths is that once I have my helmet on, I just forget everything and am able to enjoy this Vegas scenery.”

Does Tsunoda still have hope?

Despite the seemingly precarious position Tsunoda finds himself in, he believes he still has a chance of staying on as Verstappen’s teammate.

Red Bull are 32 points adrift of Mercedes in the battle for second place in the constructors’ championship and Tsunoda is determined to do his bit to help the team secure P2.

"There's still this hope,” he insisted. “I’ll do as much as I can in that, whether it's helping Max or the constructors'. Being as close as possible to Max in qualifying is probably the main thing. That's what I have to do.

"Mexico was clearly a race that we know it would've been points, with a beautiful pit stop. In Brazil it was definitely my fault that in the first lap I hit the front wing. But still, the pace was good.

“The most important thing is that the team knows it. It's better than [if] the pace is not there at all. But I know that I also have to step up a little bit more in qualifying."