Yuki Tsunoda points to Red Bull 'tradition' after Liam Lawson struggles

Yuki Tsunoda has stated it is “tradition” for Red Bull driver line-up rumours to start after a bad race is endured within the camp.

Liam Lawson's debut for the Milton Keynes-based squad was a troubled affair as the New Zealander failed to progress out of the opening stage of qualifying at the Australian Grand Prix.

He made little progress during the race in mixed conditions before spinning out of the event late on when he stayed out on dry tyres as it began to rain heavily once more.

Tsunoda, who was overlooked in favour of Lawson for a promotion to Red Bull this year, drove much of the race in the top five before dropping back in the order when the Racing Bulls team opted to gamble on dry tyres amid the late shower of rain.

Tsunoda's effort was praised by McLaren CEO Zak Brown, who stated he is “probably the guy that should be in the Red Bull if you look at how he’s performed”.

However, the Japanese driver highlighted rumours and questions regarding Red Bull's driver line-up have become the norm across the last handful of years.

“I appreciate what  Zak said to me in the press, but it’s just one race,” Tsunoda told media including RacingNews365.

“These things have been going on since last year [after the] first race. Daniel [Ricciardo to replace] Checo [Perez], myself [to replace] Checo, Liam [to replace] Checo.

“It’s a bit of a tradition for our group. It's positive but at the same time, I just have to keep [doing] what I'm doing.

“In the end, they chose this line-up last year at the end of the season. Maybe they have a clear plan for the future, I don't know.”

Tsunoda reveals Racing Bulls apology after Australian GP error

Tsunoda was running in fifth place prior to the botched strategy call that saw him drop out of the points in Albert Park.

The 24-year-old has bagged just one top-five finish in his 91-race F1 career, which came at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

With conditions in Australia changing from lap to lap, Tsunoda understands the difficulty of getting the call right and revealed the team issued an apology for getting it wrong last weekend.

“It was hard for myself as well to monitor every single corner because every lap it kept changing,” he said.

“The lap before, sector one was not raining, but one lap later it was complete rain and we reacted too late.

“I don't think I made a mistake, to be honest, in terms of communications and everything, I'm pretty happy with it.

“It just didn't go the way we wanted. The safety car came out a lap after I pitted, which wasn’t bad.

“At the same time, we know what has happened, and the team apologised to me right after the race.”