The Red Bull Formula 1 team's rejection of Yuki Tsunoda at the end of 2024 helped him grow mentally, according to Honda's motorsport boss.
Tsunoda finally made his long-awaited Red Bull Racing Formula 1 debut at the Japanese Grand Prix as Liam Lawson's replacement.
It came just under four months after Red Bull picked Lawson instead of Tsunoda to succeed Sergio Perez as Max Verstappen's team-mate.
That move left Tsunoda confused and frustrated, as he was by far the most experienced driver left in Red Bull's pool of in-house options and had his best F1 season to date in 2024.
Tsunoda even admitted ahead of the Suzuka race that he had doubted he would ever drive for Red Bull and was even questioning the purpose of things like doing a seat fit as the team's reserve driver.
But several sources close to Tsunoda have said he used the disappointment as fuel to prove Red Bull wrong and improve further on-track and off it in 2025.
"He's in his fifth year in his career being involved in Formula 1 and I do think that over the years, he has shown growth from various angles," Honda Racing Corporation president Koji Watanabe told The Race.
"At the very beginning of his career in Formula 1, he did have those moments when he would let his emotions take over.
"However, I do think that he has especially grown quite a bit in the last year from 2024 to 2025 especially psychologically, mentally.
"Last year, he was working very hard towards being promoted to the senior team of Red Bull. But when that did not happen, this actually became an opportunity for him to really grow himself in achieving his dream."
As a driver, Tsunoda appears outwardly no different to the one Red Bull decided only a few months ago was not strong enough mentally and did not have the potential Lawson had.
Two typically strong weekends at the start of the year for Racing Bulls were undermined results-wise by poor strategic choices by the team, but left the impression internally that Tsunoda was indeed a stronger personality than before the Red Bull rejection.
That, combined with concerns about Lawson looking lost and seemingly being bereft of confidence after a difficult start, left Red Bull convinced an immediate swap would be best - something that the Suzuka weekend seemed to support, even though neither driver had a clean weekend as they failed to score points.
Despite that, Tsunoda is understood to have impressed Red Bull with his initial feedback, his approach within the team, and how he handled the expectation at his home race.
Watanabe said that Tsunoda's promotion and Red Bull debut in Japan had a "special meaning" for Honda, given it had backed Tsunoda's early career through its Honda Racing School at Suzuka, but had also had a huge impact in Japan.
"Although Japan, in very many regards, have been involved in Formula 1 and motorsport [a long time], and there have been many drivers who have come and gone, this is, I believe, the first time that a Japanese driver has a driver's seat at an absolute top-level team,” said Watanabe.
"And ever since the announcement was made that Yuki is being promoted to have a driver's seat with Red Bull, the Japanese fans as well as domestic media here have been absolutely buzzing.
"There has been so much focus on this recent development. This is something that we have not seen at all in history."
Tsunoda's early in-season promotion has allowed Honda to maximise this interest before its Red Bull partnership comes to an end, and work with Tsunoda directly at a top team not just a midfield one.
But while Honda has supported Tsunoda in various ways in his junior career and even financially in his place at Red Bull's second team for several years, that connection is set to end after 2025 regardless.
Honda is switching from the Red Bull teams to Aston Martin for the new engine rules in 2026 and while Tsunoda did initially look like he would have to leave the Red Bull family as well - not necessarily because of Honda's exit but because he seemed to have no future at the top team - he now has an unexpected chance to establish himself at Red Bull Racing long-term.
With Aston Martin keen to keep working with current drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll as well, the chance of a continued Honda-Tsunoda collaboration looks small for now - but Watanabe said the door will be kept open for a reunion.
"He has been continuously maturing as a professional driver, and he's perfectly fine to, of course, build his own aspirations and work towards that on his own as well," said Watanabe.
"I understand that he will probably want to leave his mark and be successful while having this driver's seat with Red Bull. So we're going to be supporting those aspirations for him.
"Honda's stance is that we want to help fulfil his dreams as a professional driver in the long term - though, in the future, we still would like to see having another opportunity to work with Yuki on a project, whatever that could be.
"We consider Yuki as part of the Honda family, and we're committed to supporting him."
