Though the result of Yuki Tsunoda’s first Red Bull qualifying session looked worse than it was, the reality of his new Formula 1 car has clearly dawned on him quite quickly.
Tsunoda doesn't just need to look to Max Verstappen to see what the RB21 is capable of - he's come close to nailing it himself already. But he's also fallen foul of the car's ills. And if he had an idea already he'd be treading that tightrope even in the best-case scenario, the Japanese Grand Prix weekend so far has confirmed it.
Tsunoda has had a bouncy, enthusiastic energy about him all week at his home race. He was wary of putting too much emphasis on his read of the RB21 from the simulator, and knew it would be trickier on-track for real, but his approach has been to enjoy his opportunity and believe in his ability to make the most of it.
For much of the weekend, he has done exactly that. Apart from a slightly downbeat assessment after second practice, when he admitted the car was indeed tougher to drive than he found on the simulator, Tsunoda's looked quite confident behind the wheel and more often than not his one-lap pace has compared well to Verstappen.
It was not a practice mirage either. Tsunoda was seventh in Q1, right behind Verstappen, and "felt pretty good". Then it all fell apart as while Verstappen flew to pole position at Suzuka, Tsunoda was out in Q2 and slower than both drivers at his old team, Racing Bulls, including of course his Red Bull predecessor Liam Lawson.
It gave Tsunoda an immediate indicator of how quickly his fortunes can swing in his new team. And it was notable speaking to him in the mixed zone afterwards how his vocabulary had immediately taken a turn closer to Lawson's previously: "I just missed the window I guess. The window this car can operate in is very narrow."
This has been a hallmark of Red Bull's second-driver struggles for the longest time. And although the details were very different to Lawson's struggles - Tsunoda's peak performance is clearly well above anything Lawson showed across his two weekends - the outcome is the same, so Tsunoda's rapidly recognised the finicky nature of the RB21.
It's not a reality check, as Tsunoda sort of saw this coming. He knew the car had to be difficult - he saw how much Lawson struggled. But he backed himself to make it work, and still should. The underlying details of his weekend so far are still encouraging and while Verstappen's on pole he's still far from happy with the car. So it is not as stark a contrast as, say, Tsunoda looking lost while his team-mate thrives.
Perhaps most encouraging within this qualifying disappointment is that the car traits that beat up Lawson - and spelled the end of Sergio Perez - weren't a total disaster for Tsunoda. He just seemed to get caught out by something in particular in Q2, putting it down to learning something new about the tyre preparation he hadn't experienced before in previous sessions.
Obviously, that has to be put into practice to actually be believed. But Tsunoda's not hiding from the RB21's characteristics, or in a seemingly permanent state of bafflement by what the car's doing, he's just trying to handle it like Verstappen.
"I feel like this car is on the edge with the rear," Tsunoda said. "At least for now I feel pretty OK with the stability, in terms of rear sliding. I'm feeling it. But I feel at the same time this kind of direction is the set-up I have to drive to perform well in the car."
Certain details have echoes of past Red Bull driver struggles, but Tsunoda's appraisal is still a little more optimistic.
And in two quite different ways he has figured out more about the task ahead of him: having done well to adjust relatively quickly on track to access the car's peaks, Tsunoda has now learned the hard way how suddenly that can turn to a trough.
More from Saturday at Suzuka
- Mark Hughes: How Red Bull helped Verstappen stun McLaren
- How 'very lost' Antonelli rescued his Japanese GP weekend
- McLaren working on 2025 car change for Norris
- 'I nearly crashed' - Hadjar's Suzuka cockpit drama
- F1's plan to stop grass fires derailing Japanese GP
