Formula 1 News: Not much Tsunoda can do to help Verstappen starting 10th

Red Bull’s World Champion Max Verstappen rarely enjoys the luxury of a teammate who can genuinely help him seal a title or win a race—his teammates are usually too far off the pace to ever be a factor.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

In stark contrast, Lando Norris lines up for Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri starting right behind him in third. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen’s wingman, Yuki Tsunoda, will start down in tenth.

Tsunoda is fully committed to doing whatever he can to aid Verstappen’s bid for a fifth world crown, but the Japanese driver admitted the odds are stacked against him after a difficult qualifying.

“Because of the pit-lane incident in FP3 we had to revert to the old floor, which definitely cost us some performance – it wasn’t ideal,” Tsunoda explained.

“I knew reaching Q3 would be tough, but I managed it. My main target today was to give Max a tow on his first Q3 run, and I’m proud I could do that.

“Tomorrow I’ll do everything I can to support Max from P10. It won’t be easy and the strategy might get complicated, but if I can play any part in helping him win a fifth Drivers’ Championship, that’s the absolute priority. The top ten looks incredibly close, so we’ll see what opportunities come up.”

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen will be hoping that a remarkable statistic about the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix comes true again tomorrow: the driver who started from pole has won the race for the last 10 years.

Tomorrow, Verstappen will also receive the 2025 Pirelli Pole Position of the Year award, which he sealed with his result today. The Red Bull driver pulled clear of Norris in the final rankings for overall pole positions during the season, sealing his eighth pole of 2025: one more than his McLaren rival.