Friday practice at Suzuka turned into one of the most dramatic and telling storylines of the 2025 Formula 1 season — and it was all centered around Yuki Tsunoda. For the first time, the Japanese driver stepped into a Red Bull Racing car during an official session, and under the bright lights of his home Grand Prix, all eyes were on him.
Wearing a special Honda tribute livery, Tsunoda took to the track during FP1, replacing Liam Lawson in what many saw as a test — not just of speed, but of maturity, composure, and future potential. And right away, he delivered a powerful message: he’s here to be taken seriously.
Tsunoda was only four-tenths of a second off Max Verstappen’s lap time, but instead of celebrating, he immediately called it “a bad lap.” His engineer tried to provide comparisons to other drivers, but Yuki shut that down instantly: “Let’s focus on ourselves,” he responded calmly over the radio.
That might sound simple, but in a high-pressure moment, at his home race, driving the reigning champion’s machinery, Tsunoda sounded like a different man — focused, mature, and self-critical in the best way.
But as the day unfolded, so did the chaos. FP2 was marred by no fewer than four red flags, which threw everyone’s programs into disarray. Cold winds, low temperatures, and inconsistent conditions made the track tricky. Some spectators even got sunburned despite the chill — a metaphor for how unpredictable the day truly was.
In this whirlwind, Tsunoda couldn’t complete a proper qualifying sim, leaving him low on the timesheets. Meanwhile, Liam Lawson, now in Tsunoda’s usual Racing Bulls car, looked surprisingly comfortable. He even commented that the Racing Bulls machine had a “wide performance window” — a car that works well in various conditions and setups.
That’s in sharp contrast to the Red Bull RB21, which operates in a narrow window: when it’s dialed in, it’s unbeatable; when it’s off, it becomes a handful. Even Max Verstappen wasn’t happy on Friday, reporting strange flexing and handling inconsistencies. For a driver known for his icy calm, this was rare.
It’s not the first time Red Bull has struggled on a Friday and bounced back. But the differences between the two sister cars — Red Bull and Racing Bulls — are now clearer than ever.
Elsewhere on the grid, McLaren stole the spotlight. Their car looked planted through the corners and blazingly fast on the straights. Sector times revealed they were fastest across all three — making them the favorites going into qualifying.
George Russell gave Mercedes fans a reason to hope. In the first sector of his best lap, he was quicker than both McLarens, though he dropped off slightly in sectors two and three. Still, a solid performance.
Ferrari, as usual, was a mixed bag. Competitive in sector one, but trailing badly in sector three — potentially due to higher ride height settings reducing rear downforce and hurting stability in fast corners. Tire degradation also seemed worse for Ferrari than for Mercedes, which may haunt them in the race.
Back at Racing Bulls, one of their drivers — potentially Lawson — finished FP2 in P3. That result may have been aided by the red flags, but it proves how tight the midfield battle is. A tenth of a second could drop you five places.
But not all stories had a promising tone. Jack Doohan crashed heavily in FP2 after forgetting to deactivate DRS before turn one — a rookie mistake that ended his session and damaged Alpine’s already shaky weekend. Worse yet, he hadn’t driven in FP1 either, making the crash even more costly. For a driver under pressure to prove himself, this was a brutal blow.
As the dust settles from this unpredictable Friday, one thing is clear: Yuki Tsunoda isn’t just auditioning — he’s demanding a seat at the top table. And if Perez continues to falter, Helmut Marko and Christian Horner may have just seen enough to start a serious conversation.
