Max Verstappen's Teammate Yuki Tsunoda To Be Handed Major Red Bull Boost One Week After Saudi Arabian GP 2025 - See Details

Yuki Tsunoda's sudden promotion to Red Bull Racing to replace Liam Lawson after just two races of the Formula 1 2025 season always left the Japanese driver with an uphill task. 

The RB21 is a massive departure from the car he was driving for the Racing Bulls, the VCARB 02 and getting to speed with races flying thick and fast was always going to be a challenge. 

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However, the good news for Tsunoda, the Honda-backed Japanese driver, is that he is set to receive a big boost when it comes to his acclimatisation to the car on the weekend after the Saudi Arabian GP 2025. 

Tsunoda to Test Old Red Bull Car

That is because he will be taking part in a Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) programme at Silverstone, where he will complete some laps in the RB19, Red Bull's dominant car of 2023. 

Regulations allow for such tests to happen, whereby a driver can test machinery that is at least two years old - which the RB19 clearly is. 

The test will not only benefit Tsunoda in terms of getting used to the current car, which draws from previous designs, but also potentially learn the differences and help sort out what has been a very tricky car in 2025 in the form of the RB21. 

Red Bull's Mixed Start to Season

Max Verstappen may have won the Japanese GP 2025 but it was an extraordinary performance that owed as much to a phenomenal qualifying lap on Saturday and difficulties in overtaking on Sunday. 

The Red Bull's inconsistent nature was exposed at Bahrain, where they were unable to even secure a podium finish and just about finished in the points. 

Red Bull have said that they are banking on Tsunoda's experience - this is his 5th season in F1 - to help turn the car around, but the speed at which that turnaround happens remains to be seen.