Yuki Tsunoda targets podium finish in Japan after unreal Red Bull move

TOKYO – Yuki Tsunoda has targeted a podium finish at his home Japanese Grand Prix this weekend after his “unreal” promotion to the Red Bull team in place of the axed Liam Lawson.

The 24-year-old will race alongside four-time world champion Max Verstappen after Red Bull ruthlessly pulled the plug on underperforming New Zealander Lawson last week, just two races into the Formula One season.

Tsunoda said it felt “unreal” to be driving for one of the top teams on the grid and set his sights on making an instant impact in front of his Japanese fans at Suzuka.

“I don’t want to raise expectations too much, but I want to finish on the podium at this Japanese Grand Prix,” he said at an event with Red Bull partner Honda in Tokyo on March 30.

Tsunoda steps up from Red Bull’s junior team Racing Bulls (RB),with Lawson moving back down to RB.

He added that he did not expect to be racing for the team in Japan, after being passed over for Lawson when Mexico’s Sergio Perez left Red Bull at the end of last season.

“This is the final year of Red Bull and Honda’s partnership, so getting to race in Suzuka as a Red Bull Racing driver feels like fate. Everything has fallen into place in just the right way for me to be standing here today, and that’s thanks to the support of everyone,” said Tsunoda.

Tsunoda has never finished on the podium in four full seasons in F1 but he has shown pace on both race weekends so far. He was 12th in the season opener at Melbourne and finished out of the points at Shanghai only because of RB’s flawed two-stop pit strategy.

Lawson was knocked out at the first stage of all three