Max Verstappen is just 12 points behind Lando Norris with the final race in Abu Dhabi remaining. To win the title, the Dutchman needs to win and hope that Norris finishes fifth or worse. In this scenario, Red Bull is counting on the help of Yuki Tsunoda, his teammate.
“It’s mega important. As you know, it can be decided down to the last point. It can be mega important,” stated the team principal, Laurent Mekies. He highlighted the need for a strong performance from Tsunoda: “It will be super important to have Yuki at 100%. He had a strong weekend with us. Strong on Friday, strong in the sprint (P5), I think it’s his best result with us this season. And yes, he was eliminated in Q1, but that was only three tenths behind Max… so, he had a strong weekend, we need another strong weekend in Abu Dhabi, because everything will be necessary.”
Mekies also commented on Norris’s performance at the Qatar GP: “You saw today, you know, Lando falling back to the pack. He could have fallen back to the middle of the pack. He fell back with Kimi [Antonelli] and Carlos [Sainz], but he was very close to falling back with Fernando and the other guys, where Yuki potentially was.”
Despite the team’s confidence, Tsunoda faces challenges. Since replacing Liam Lawson at the beginning of the season, the Japanese driver has struggled to stand out. In Qatar, he scored his first points since the US GP, finishing 10th. His best finish of the year was 6th in Azerbaijan, and he has only finished in the top ten six times. Currently, he occupies 15th place in the championship, five points behind Lawson of Racing Bulls.
