Yuki Tsunoda conceded he had “mixed feelings” after his race debut for Red Bull as he struggled to make progress up the field in the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix.
After a dropping out in Q2 of qualifying and starting his Red Bull debut in 14th, up one spot after Carlos Sainz’s three-place grid penalty, the home hero made up a place at the start overtaking Liam Lawson – the driver he replaced at Red Bull from this weekend.
Despite leapfrogging Pierre Gasly in the pitstops, Tsunoda’s progress up the order was halted stuck behind Fernando Alonso in 12th. With almost all drivers struggling to overtake during the Japanese GP, the 24-year-old had to settle for a finish out of the points.
"I'm happy with the race, in terms of my performance, but obviously, in terms of results, it's quite tough, especially for my home grand prix," Tsunoda summarised. "I was definitely expecting more, and you know, at least I wanted to finish in a point, so it's mixed feelings."
When asked how confident he was feeling about beginning to understand the RB21 and closing the gap to his team-mate Verstappen, he added: "The 53 laps I got in this race was the most laps I had in this car.
"Every lap I was learning, and finally, I got decent laps in the car, and I definitely feel more confidence in the car. I just feel overall controlled more towards the end of the race.
"I'm happy considering the amount of time I had, but because of [it being my] home grand prix, I just wanted to finish in the points. I just have to build the pace. It's fortunate that there's Max that I can learn from. So I just keep doing what I'm doing. I'm excited for Bahrain actually."
Tsunoda's new team-mate Verstappen secured the victory in Suzuka and was joined by the McLaren drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri on the podium, who finished in second and third, respectively.
