‘I could have done better’ – Tsunoda reflects on scoring maiden points for second Red Bull car in 2025 after P9 in Bahrain

Yuki Tsunoda made it two Red Bull cars in the top 10 for the first time this season in Bahrain, as the Japanese racer finished ninth to claim two points – his best Grand Prix result of the year.

After a tricky race,despite a solid start, on his Red Bull debut last weekend in Suzuka, Tsunoda’s Bahrain experience was the opposite – he struggled throughout practice and the early parts of Qualifying, but made it stick when it mattered.

'Reasonable' – Horner gives his verdict on Tsunoda's points-scoring Bahrain GP as he explains cause of Red Bull pit stop issues

Tsunoda got the second Red Bull through to Q3 for the first time this year – following the team’s decision to swap him over from Racing Bulls to replace Liam Lawson – before improving one position on his 10th-placed grid slot in the race to take P9.

He had to work hard for his result though, making contact with Carlos Sainz’s Williams twice in a heated race, and having to make a set of soft tyres last 28 laps – as well as enduring some lost time in the pit lane when Red Bull’s traffic light system failed to work as intended.

“I’m happy for the first points,” Tsunoda said after the race.

“It’s always the feeling that I could have done better. Especially this race, the pace was quite good and I could have done a slightly better job than this one and also the team could have done a slightly better job in terms of pit stop, I don’t know what happened there as well.”

Tsunoda and his team mate Max Verstappen were both delayed on their opening stops when the traffic light system malfunctioned, costing them both vital seconds. Tsunoda dropped to P19 after his first stop, before coming back through the field.

READ MORE: ‘Everything went wrong’ – Verstappen rues problems after P6 in Bahrain as he reflects on ‘tough’ situation for Red Bull

“It is still a learning curve, still appreciate the team, how supportive they are. Without that, I wouldn’t have been able to progress as much as this. So, I’ll take these first points,” he added.

The last time Red Bull had two cars in the top nine of a race was all the way back in Austin. But on a day where Verstappen also struggled for pace and could only finish sixth, Red Bull know they have work to do to get back to the front.

“Still happy with the performance I have, just keep doing what I’m doing and yeah, definitely have to continue like this and results will come in the future, but at the same time, I'm not really rushing,” Tsunoda added when asked if this was a confidence boost ahead of Jeddah.

READ MORE: Sainz explains incident with Tsunoda that led to retirement from ‘frustrating’ Bahrain Grand Prix

“I’m sure maybe more difficult race weekends will happen, and that will be the most important time for me to see how I will cope with that. Still a lot of challenges ahead but I’m ready for it.

“I am not setting a specific goal for Jeddah yet, it’s just about keeping doing what I am doing, I hope to do slightly better in Qualifying and that should make my life easier."