Ahead of his Red Bull debut at his home race, Yuki Tsunoda opened up on his targets with his new team. “Basically, be as close to Max [Verstappen] as possible, which anyway gives good results for the team,

Red Bull new recruit Yuki Tsunoda has been told to get as close to his world champion teammate Max Verstappen as possible at the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend and he certainly delivered in the first practice session on Friday.

There is only so much you can extrapolate from one-and-a-bit practice sessions on a day when the only thing really catching fire was the grass around the Suzuka circuit. But it is fair to say that Yuki Tsunoda’s first day in a Red Bull was a qualified success.