Yuki Tsunoda got up to speed relatively quickly in his first official session as a Red Bull driver. The 24-year-old went 6th fastest in FP1, setting a very clean lap to finish only a tenth behind Max Verstappen.

Liam Lawson, tapped by the team to replace Sergio Pérez, was out and Yuki Tsunoda, passed over initially by the team to replace Pérez, was in. That move sparked a debate throughout the Formula 1 world regarding how Red Bull continues to handle their second driver.

Tsunoda, 24, has shown good speed in his Racing Bulls car so far and lost out on a points-scoring finish when he had to pit because of a front wing issue late in the Chinese Grand Prix. But don’t expect that speed to translate to race-winning speed in Japan. Tsunoda is +4000 to win the race at BetMGM and is the No. 7 favorite.

F1 driver Yuki Tsunoda needs to prove Red Bull Racing they should keep him, thinks Jacques Villeneuve. According to the Canadian world champion, the Japanese may just do that, provided he helps Max Verstappen.

Yuki Tsunoda impressed Max Verstappen in his first day driving the Red Bull RB21 at the Japanese Grand Prix. Tsunoda would hit the ground running with an FP1 performance which put him right on Verstappen’s tail,

The Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday is only the third Formula 1 race of the season, and several plots are developing that promise a few twists. But the fresh storylines could be as fleeting as the cherry blossoms seen all over Japan at this time of the year.