Tsunoda: 'I definitely have to show more to keep Red Bull seat'

17:41, 28 Aug

Updated: 18:00, 28 Aug

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byKada Sarkozi

Yuki Tsunoda sees he needs to turn his improvements into points in order to stay with Red Bull Racing.

Tsunoda was promoted to the senior team from Racing Bulls two rounds into the campaign, replacing Liam Lawson.

Since then, the Japanese driver has scored seven points, and is scoreless since the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.

Tsunoda explained he needs to put more points on the table, building on the improvements he saw from Belgium to Hungary ahead of the summer break.

"I definitely have to show more, but actually the last two races before summer break help a little bit. Probably [the team] didn't recognise, especially Helmut [Marko], how much the difference we had between me and Max in terms of the package differences," he told GPblog among others.

The Japanese driver sees receiving the latest updates he received in Hungary could already help him get closer to Max Verstappen.

"As soon as I [got the newer floor] my pace, suddenly improved. In Hungary, the difference between me and Max was very small, since practice, and that shows that actually 'hold on, maybe there's some potential'.

"I think I just keep what I'm doing, but also at the same time I still have to put it all together throughout the weekend. You can't just rely on the pace; I need to score points."

Tsunoda is yet to sign a deal for the upcoming campaign. He added: "We kind of agreed what we are looking for [by when I need] to be able to have good performances, in order to let them decide what kind of contract they want for next year. Let's see."