“I gave it all”: Yuki Tsunoda bows out after a season of setbacks and ‘stranger penalties’

Written by Kavi Khandelwal

The 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix marked Yuki Tsunoda's final Formula One race for the Red Bull family's racing seats, concluding a turbulent season that ends with his demotion to a test and reserve driver role. His immediate post-race comments were a blend of frustration over the result and profound gratitude for the mechanics who supported him.

Credit: Formula One

"Yeah, well I wanted to at least score points but I don't know, some stranger penalty once again. As usual for them to be honest but anyway, I gave it all."

Tsunoda detailed the technical struggles that plagued his final race, pointing to issues with the car's performance management, a problem that often defined his season.

"It was very hard to follow this pass. I mean I had a pace initially but somehow it just overheats massively, crazy. So I struggled with that a lot this race."

The Japanese driver reflected on a final season defined by constant setbacks, emphasizing the need to overcome external factors and technical difficulties.

"This year, I mean especially second half if I look back, it's just the word called luck. To be honest, I mean I don't like to say or use the word called luck to be honest. But I felt really like deeply, yeah, lucky on that. Every session or every race week at least something went on."

He lamented the continuous fight to keep his car competitive, often having to revert setups or fight penalty decisions:

"This week I had to revert back to the old form without my control, you know. With that incident in pit lane. Another questionable penalty in the race. So yeah, never had a straightforward race. But at least I gave it all and I think I've shown what I can do."

Despite the pressure and the demotion, Tsunoda expressed immense gratitude for his team, painting a clear picture of the intense developmental environment he endured.

"I enjoyed a lot within mechanics especially, you know. The amount of support I have from them was phenomenal."

He even managed a moment of characteristic humour while describing the frantic work rate his challenging requests demanded from the garage crew over the years.

"Probably some phase they were hating me because of a lot of overnight changes, a lot of, you know, massive setup changes between FP3 and qualifying. But yeah, you know I thought actually yesterday at least I trained them well. They are very sharp. So yeah, I'm sure they appreciate me."

Yuki Tsunoda departs his race seat having given it his all, embracing the reserve role with the determination to prove his pace again.