In his first public appearance since being promoted to Red Bull, Yuki Tsunoda has set himself the target of claiming a podium on his debut for the team.
It was announced on Thursday by Red Bull that Liam Lawson and Tsunoda would swap seats after just two races, due to multiple reasons.
One of the main reasons is Red Bull insisting that it requires Tsunoda's experience to improve the RB21, which has caused issues for both Lawson and Max Verstappen.
As a result, Tsunoda will finally get his chance to race for the Milton Keynes-based team, in what is currently his last season contracted by the Red Bull family.
To make his promotion even more special, his competitive debut will be made at his home race – the Japanese Grand Prix
"To be honest, I never expected to be racing for Red Bull at the Japanese Grand Prix," Tsunoda said at a Honda event in its Aoyama headquarters.
"This is the final year of Red Bull and Honda’s partnership, so getting to race in Suzuka as a Red Bull Racing driver feels like fate.
"Everything has fallen into place in just the right way for me to be standing here today."
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Tsunoda's personal target
Tsunoda's only experience of driving the difficult RB21 has been in the simulator, with first practice at Suzuka set to be his first time actually driving the car.
However, whilst the 24-year-old recognises his faces a tough Red Bull debut, he has set himself the target to finish on the podium for the first time in his F1 career.
"Of course, I was happy about joining Red Bull, but when I thought about it carefully, the idea of suddenly racing for Red Bull at the Japanese Grand Prix felt so unreal," he explained.
"I don’t want to raise expectations too much, but for this Japanese Grand Prix, I want to finish on the podium. That said, I know it won’t be easy right from the start.
"My priority is to first understand the car, how it behaves compared to the VCARB. If I can naturally enjoy driving it as I get familiar with it in FP1, then the results will follow.
"And if that leads to a podium finish, that would be incredible."
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Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes and Nick Golding as they analyse the huge news from Red Bull, who confirmed Yuki Tsunoda will replace Liam Lawson at the team.
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