Tsuonda sets his sights on a podium after feeling 'fate' gave him a seat at Red Bull

Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda has set his target high for his home race next week; he wants a podium for his Red Bull debut.

After a turbulent start of the season for Liam Lawson, Red Bull made the shock move to switch Lawson for Tsunoda.

Yuki now gets a chance at the senior team, while Lawson is demoted to Racing Bulls as he attempts to rebuild his reputation and career.

The move has left the F1 paddock largely stunned, perhaps none more so than Tsunoda himself.

"To be honest, I never expected to be racing for Red Bull at the Japanese Grand Prix," Tsunoda said at a Honda event.

"This is the final year of Red Bull and Honda’s partnership, so getting to race in Suzuka as a Red Bull Racing driver feels like fate. Everything has fallen into place in just the right way for me to be standing here today."

The bar for Tsunoda will be low heading into Japan, as Lawson has eliminated from Q1 in both qualifying session he drove, and only managed to make up a few places during the race.

A points scoring performance would in itself likely be considered a success by Red Bull.

"I don’t want to raise expectations too much, but for this Japanese Grand Prix, I want to finish on the podium. That said, I know it won’t be easy right from the start," he said.

“My priority is to first understand the car, how it behaves compared to the VCARB. If I can naturally enjoy driving it as I get familiar with it in FP1, then the results will follow. And if that leads to a podium finish, that would be incredible."

Tsunoda will at least have three full practice sessions to get acquainted with the car, something Lawson did not have in his first two races.

Max Verstappen is the clear top driver for Red Bull, leaving the second seat forced to adjust to a car built around a different driver.

This dynamic has led to several drivers entering the second seat and being dominated by Verstappen, with Red Bull then quickly pivoting to different drivers, hoping someone can cope with the car.

Promising drivers like Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly have stepped into the car, and struggled, only to leave the team and find success elsewhere. Sergio Perez has had the longest stint as Max's teammate, but even he was ultimately left in the dust.

Yuki is seemingly well aware of the challenge that lies ahead of him.

"Of course, how I want to set up the car is probably different from Max. I want to develop my own car set-up, get a good understanding of it, and gradually get up to speed from FP1," he said.