With the weight of a nation on his shoulders and under the most intense scrutiny of his career, Yuki Tsunoda delivered with no little finesse in practice for the Japanese Grand Prix in his first outing for Red Bull. Lando Norris, meanwhile, appears well set to further advance his world championship ambitions, with a strong showing here for McLaren, despite a second session interrupted by no fewer than four red flags, two caused by trackside fires.
Tsunoda was drafted in from the sister team, Racing Bulls, only last week to replace Liam Lawson, whom the team unceremoniously demoted after just two races. The 24-year-old has four seasons in F1 under his belt but has never driven this year’s Red Bull before and it is a hard car to handle, as Lawson discovered.
