Yuki Tsunoda reflects on his first outing as a Red Bull driver and assesses feel of the RB21

Yuki Tsunoda believes Friday at the Japanese Grand Prix marked a “good start” in his new chapter as a Red Bull driver, but conceded there is plenty still to work on.

Following a difficult start to the season for Liam Lawson, Red Bull elected to demote the New Zealander back to Racing Bulls for the remainder of the year, with Tsunoda heading in the opposite direction to partner Max Verstappen.

Over the first two weekends of the Formula 1 season, Lawson had struggled to get close to Verstappen in Australia and China, something that made Tsunoda’s Free Practice 1 effort all the more impressive – finishing one place and just 0.107s behind the Dutchman in sixth.

Although the gap increased to two seconds in FP2 with Verstappen eighth and Tsunoda 18th, the times alone paint a false picture, with the Japanese driver failing to complete a qualifying simulation due to a quartet of red flag interruptions.

SUZUKA, JAPAN - APRIL 04: Yuki Tsunoda of Japan driving the (22) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB21 on — Tsunoda was on the pace of Verstappen in FP1

“FP1 was better than expected," said Tsunoda after Friday's two practice sessions. "A good start for myself.

"FP2, I didn’t set a lap time. I think there is still a lot of work to do. Maybe I slightly struggled or there is something we have to look at more in the data from FP2 but so far, overall, it’s ok. I just have to build up the confidence a bit more.”

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With the seat swap between Lawson and Tsunoda generating plenty of headlines, the move has also led to questions surrounding Red Bull's RB21 challenger and how tricky it is to drive.

While Lawson seemed to struggle to adapt in his two race weekends with the team, Tsunoda now has the challenge of taming the car having started the season driving Racing Bulls' VCARB 02.

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Comparing the feel of Red Bull's RB21 to its simulator counterpart, Tsunoda added: “It’s a bit different to the simulator, what I felt, to be honest. Maybe a little bit more than I expected in terms of car feeling.

“I knew that it is always a bit different in the real car and it was just a little bit more exaggerated in the real car and felt a bit more tricky.”

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Across the other side of the garage, reigning World Champion Max Verstappen was impressed with the effort shown by his new team mate in Japan.

Asked for his thoughts on Tsunoda’s performance, the Dutch driver said: “I think he started off really well in FP1 and then in FP2, it was just very chaotic for everyone.

“We have a lot of homework to do on our side just to focus on the car. But I think everything worked out well.”