Yuki Tsunoda highlights 'ego' as light shed on Red Bull struggles

Yuki Tsunoda has opened up on the struggles he endured with Red Bull following his promotion to the senior team in 2025.

Tsunoda was called up to replace Liam Lawson after the New Zealander endured a challenging opening two events with the Milton Keynes-based squad.

However, Tsunoda endured problems of his own and was frequently absent from the point-scoring positions throughout the year.

It led to his exit from the team at the end of 2025, with Isack Hadjar promoted in his place.

Tsunoda has acknowledged that he has a sizeable “ego” that left him reluctant to change his style behind the wheel.

“One thing about myself, I have big enough ego to not change my driving style,” Tsunoda told the Beyond The Grid podcast. 

“I know what I'm doing in terms of driving and I believe in myself. 

“I never try to change my driving style to other drivers, even though the driver is competitive and fast.”

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Tsunoda: Driving style similar to Verstappen

Last year's finale in Abu Dhabi did not mark Tsunoda's final race in F1, as he was called up to Racing Bulls this year to replace Lawson, who stepped back up to Red Bull to replace an injured Hadjar.

His outings have been more competitive than those he endured at Red Bull alongside Verstappen.

But amid suggestions that the cars were developed to suit Verstappen in years gone by, Tsunoda found that his style behind the wheel resembled that of the four-time champion.

“Obviously for Max, it's a different case. He's a world champion, he proves a lot of things and I still learned a lot of things from his driving.

“My core driving is the same. And at some time, probably the first year out of any years since I started, I thought about changing driving style and trying to do something similar to Max. 

“But in my perspective, if I just look at data, I didn't really see a huge difference in terms of driving.

“What I did most, and what I think now was the biggest mistake last year, was to try to replicate the set-up, what he's doing.

“Even knowing that sometimes, if I feel the car very oversteer, Max's[set-up] in theory makes the car worse, more sensitive in the direction change, or makes the car slide more. 

“I tend to choose the set-up, even though I'm already struggling with oversteer. It can happen sometimes the opposite way as well.

“Even though I'm struggling with understeer, his car is more understeer. I try to replicate that.”