Red Bull sporting director Helmut Marko believes: Racing Bulls gave away important points for the second time in a row at the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.
Racing Bulls took three points from the Formula One race weekend in China because Yuki Tsunoda finished sixth in the sprint. Red Bull sporting director Helmut Marko blames the team’s strategy department for not adding more World Cup points in the Grand Prix.
Marko says: “At least one point would have been possible, because they were always on a par with Antonelli. So the strategy guys really need to look at this carefully and make sure the right decisions are made.”
Because Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli finished the Chinese Grand Prix in sixth place, while Isack Hadjar only came in eleventh and Yuki Tsunoda did not finish higher than P16. The crucial difference: Antonelli only stopped once for fresh tires, while Hadjar and Tsunoda were on two stops.
Marko accuses Racing Bulls of a lack of foresight here: “I would say they should have at least tried a one-stop for one car.”
Tsunoda, on the other hand, can “somewhat understand the thinking behind it,” since they didn’t know before the race distance “that the hard tire would work so well.”
According to Marko, the additional stop triggered a downward spiral because Hadjar and Tsunoda both ended up in traffic after their tire changes. “And we saw that as soon as they get stuck in traffic, overtaking is very, very difficult. That ruined the race.”
Racing Bulls with only three points from three races
And so Racing Bulls are only on three points after three races, where other teams have done much better. That’s why Tsunoda is “very disappointed” and says: “We lost a lot of points in the first two Grands Prix. And in such a close season, every point really counts.”
As a team, you have to “get the maximum out of the car when it has the pace,” said Tsunoda. They often managed to do that in 2024, “but now we are wasting our potential and not converting our performance. We have to analyze that, refocus, and definitely get points again from the next race.”
Tsunoda is also looking for the fault in himself
Tsunoda doesn’t exclude himself from the criticism, by the way: “Maybe I could have contributed something to the strategy as a driver – given a hint or something.”
“Last week in Melbourne, we realized our strategic mistake at least in retrospect. But this time, I don’t quite understand it yet. I need to talk to the team to avoid this in the future. Because that’s frustrating.”
No answers yet on front wing damage
Equally disappointing from his point of view was the breakage of the front wing on his VCARB 02: During the drive, the flaps on the driver’s right side suddenly gave way. “Maybe something was on the track or it was a technical defect – I don’t know yet,” says Marko.
Tsunoda says: “I definitely didn’t touch anyone. The team is now checking whether I may have driven over debris, but I don’t think I hit anything.” At most, he could imagine that air turbulence from the car in front of him caused the damage.
“But for me, the front wing just disintegrated by itself. Either a design flaw or I did hit something – I don’t know,” says Tsunoda. The damage required an additional pit stop. This dropped him back to the end of the field.
“At first, I thought I had a puncture. I watched the tire temperature and everything looked normal. I then asked if I had a puncture, but the team said no. They probably didn’t realize it until quite late. But I drove with the damage like a bus driver.”
Tsunoda is all the more looking forward to his home race in Formula One at Suzuka in Japan: “The track there is of course very different, but the basic pace of the car is good. So I’m excited. We have to prepare well and hopefully score points.”
