Yuki Tsunoda is oozing confidence and excitement ahead of his Red Bull Formula 1 debut at the Japanese Grand Prix.
The grey clouds and drizzle that accompanied Tokyo's F1 showrun on Wednesday could have conveyed a pathetic fallacy of Tsunoda's prospects for his first race since replacing Liam Lawson as Max Verstappen's team-mate.
But in the end the only meaningful early conclusions came from Tsunoda's enthusiastic demeanour, his first expanses on how he is approaching the Suzuka weekend, and how he clearly revelled in the joy of Red Bull's 2011 title-winning RB7 on the makeshift Tokyo Bay 'track'.
His preparation
Had Tsunoda been picked by Red Bull for 2025 in the first place, he would have made his debut after spending the winter with the team and getting pre-season testing in the car.
Instead he will drive the RB21 for the first time in Friday practice, and has had "just about two days" of preparation. Just one of the many flaws in how Red Bull has reached this point.
Interested in more insight from Tsunoda's showrun? Scott was on the ground in Tokyo for the demo and shared his live trackside thoughts with The Race Members' Club on Patreon - head to this post and sign up now to see his experience!
Promotional work between China and Japan meant Tsunoda already had a busy schedule and had to "cancel a couple of things". He was in the UK on the simulator, and feels that the team has maximised what preparation was possible - although conceded he cannot confidently say it's enough.
"I know that it was a very, very productive two days," Tsunoda said. "We tried a lot of set-ups and we found a direction we want to go in, to start at least."
And there was a curious remark about what he experienced from the car in the simulator. While acknowledging it is only a virtual experience compared to the real RB20 test he did last December that left him encouraged the Red Bull genuinely suited him quite easily, Tsunoda was positively surprised.
"I was expecting a lot more trickiness, because of how Liam struggled," Tsunoda said.
"I’m sure it's still going to be very challenging, it's a lot different to the Racings Bulls.
"I just need to take it easy, just feel the car. But still definitely it will be challenging."
Friday will be 'complete unknown'
The short lead time Tsunoda's had at Red Bull means he is unusually keen, by F1 driver standards, to get in the car on Friday.
FP1s are not usually much for a driver to be excited by, although another local driver, Ryo Hirakawa, is another exception as he steps into the Alpine for the first time.
For Tsunoda, he said he is "really excited" to discover "how the car behaves" - and it's not just lip service, there was an obvious bounce in Tsunoda's voice as he conveys that to The Race.
Tsunoda knows that whether he tries to manage expectations or not, some people will expect a lot from him this weekend. But as he pointed out: "Friday is a complete unknown." And that seems to be feeding the excitement.
"Normally, you have a bit of expectation, but for me, I really, really don't have anything," he said.
"Just drive, do laps, and hopefully I'll be up there.
"But I'm sure it won't be as smooth as that!"
He's revelling in it
For Tsunoda's first Red Bull race to be his home grand prix, at Honda's track, and the place where his single-seater journey began, has enormous personal significance. It also cranks up the pressure even more on a situation that is already incredibly high stakes.
Tsunoda, though, is carrying the weight of expectation easily. He bounced from commitment to commitment on Wednesday with vim, and, if he was forcing the smiles, he did so very convincingly.
He also seemed genuinely pleased, if surprised, to see a couple of non-Japanese journalists had bothered to turn up to his press conference!
Asked by The Race about how confident and comfortable he looked - from the showrun where he slid his RB7 gracefully through a horrible hairpin that was clearly difficult to get an F1 car round, to his demeanour around his media activities - Tsunoda said all he cared about was trying to enjoy the chance he has.
"It can't get crazier than this situation," he said. "I'm sure there's a lot of pressure from Red Bull, this home grand prix…But I think the only thing I can do is enjoy it for now.
"I know that if I feel 100% comfortable with the car, and understand the car, I think the result will come automatically.
"I just can't wait to get on the track as soon as possible and just feel the car from FP1.
"I'm sure it won't be easy, it's very time limited, but I just have to do as much as possible to give the feedback and make it work."
First hints of Verstappen relationship
The fact Max Verstappen didn't have much of a relationship with his previous team-mate shouldn't reflect poorly on Lawson. It's hard to build much of a rapport when you're only in the job for a few weeks...
In terms of his team-mates, the way they chop and change has an impact. A very good dynamic with Daniel Ricciardo was replaced with short stints alongside Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon (the latter in odd global circumstances as well!) - whereas longevity seemed to help bring Verstappen and Sergio Perez to a good level.
With Tsunoda, Verstappen has a team-mate he has spent a reasonable amount of time with already, in their shared Red Bull exploits. The marketing gimmicks aren't Verstappen's favourite activities, but he's always seemed to get on well with Tsunoda - and that looked the case already in Tokyo.
They seem very at ease, and jokey, in each other's company. And while Verstappen doesn't agree with Red Bull's decision to change drivers, that's not because he dislikes or disrespects Tsunoda.
In fact, Tsunoda was very keen to stress that off-track and on it, Verstappen's going to be a good team-mate.
Tsunoda's already joked that Verstappen could be "a really good Uber driver!" after Verstappen drove the two in a Honda concept car as part of the Tokyo event. "I gave him five stars, obviously, after the ride," Tsunoda said.
More seriously, he continued: "We have a good relationship already from the first year in Red Bull.
"He's a lot different to probably how I watch on TV - he's a really, really nice guy. I can't wait [to race with him].
"He's one of the best drivers, the best driver probably on the current grid.
"I'll just learn as much as possible from him, how he's driving, how he's able to extract the performance from the car."
Showrun a grand official debut
The turnout at the showrun was strong, an alleged sellout somewhere in the 6000-7000 region, and people were already lining the streets hours before the demonstration began at midday. It was a celebration of Honda, of Red Bull, and of Tsunoda himself.
And Tsunoda looked to be revelling in it. He has always seemed lifted by the energy of a passionate home crowd, which will be behind him like never before this weekend.
And he has the air of a driver raring to get on-track and grab his opportunity with both hands. Even the body language of the RB7 Tsunoda chucked around the makeshift Bay circuit conveyed a sense of confidence and joy that, too often, has been rapidly sapped from Red Bull's second driver.
As much as the Tokyo event was a magnificent lead into a huge weekend for Tsunoda, he now needs to get down to business at the track - because it is not a free hit, and Tsunoda knows it.
If there was a downside to the event itself, it's that Tsunoda's planned run in the Honda RA272, the car that Richie Ginther took Honda's first F1 victory in back in 1965, and the inspiration for the special Red Bull livery this weekend to mark its final Japanese GP with Honda, didn't come about.
This seemed to be a victim of the weather - a rainy, cold start to the day presumably left Honda a bit too worried, which is understandable given that the car is too valuable to crash!
And it didn't take the shine off Tsunoda's day. The man of the moment is riding the crest of a great wave. Now comes the small matter of not crashing down immediately, as some of his predecessors have before him.
