Ahead of his Red Bull debut, Yuki Tsunoda has yet to hear from Helmut Marko.

With both the Japanese driver and Liam Lawson taking part in today's FIA press conference - though not at the same time - it is understandable that they were the centre of attention.

Both spoke of the events of the last week, and while Red Bull's Lord High Executioner, Helmut Marko, undoubtedly had a hand in events, Tsunoda admits that he has yet to hear from him. Indeed, it was Christian Horner who broke the good news to the Japanese driver.

"The first call I got was from Christian right after China, that I should maybe be prepared for when things are going to change a little bit," he told reporters. "I guess it was Tuesday or something like that.

"Surprisingly, Marko didn't call me yet, very unusual," he added. "I'm not sure if he was busy with other things. I can't wait to see him, how he's going to react to me. But yeah, it's very unusual. From F3 to F1, he was always calling me, but this time he didn't call me.

"I'm sure there's not anything from his side," he insisted. "We have still a good relationship, so let's see how he reacts to that."

Of course, there is the little matter that having badgered for Lawson to be given the Red Bull seat throughout 2024 and having totally overlooked Tsunoda, Marko might be feeling a little sheepish.

Since China, while admitting that the Japanese is a different driver to what he was a couple of years ago, he has admitted that Lawson was promoted to early.

"I was in the UK anyway for our preparation for Suzuka with Racing Bulls, and the plan changed," said Tsunoda of the call from Horner. "Immediately I had a simulator session with the Red Bull. I think at that point I was spending two, three days in the UK."

Asked about the pressure of moving up to the 'big team' and at his home race, he replied: "I guess the pressure will always come once you hit the track but for now, I'm really relaxing somehow.

"It feels actually similar to when I was in Racing Bulls. Once I entered the hospitality, I was only thinking about breakfast! So, I don't necessarily feel pressure so far.

"Those things will naturally come in the race at my home grand prix. In qualifying, I'm sure it's going to be hectic. But now there's not much point to feeling pressure."

Despite his admirable confidence, it is a fact that the Red Bull is notoriously difficult to drive.

"I have confidence," he insisted. "I'm not saying I have the confidence that I can perform straight away like Max, but I have confidence that I can do something different, hopefully, compared to other drivers that will be in the car.

"If I didn't have confidence, I wouldn't be wearing this," he added, pointing to his Red Bull overall. I would have stayed in Racing Bulls!

"Racing Bulls already have such a good car," he continued, "and I understand how they extract performance in every race so far but because I wanted to have a new challenge, and I have good confidence to challenge myself, so that's why I'm wearing this and hitting the track with a different livery."

While it is understood that he has been told to get close to Verstappen's pace, Tsunoda revealed that there is no deadline.

"I didn't get any specific number of races or time to prove myself," he said. "He's been very supportive so far," he added, referring to Horner, "and just mentioned the expectations he has of me, what he wants me to achieve."

Referring to his initial experience of the RB21 in the simulator, he said: "In the simulator obviously it's not fully correct in terms of trickiness of the car, but at least it didn't feel crazy tricky. I can feel what the drivers mentioned about the instability or lack of driving confidence.

"I did multiple set-ups that I wanted to try to make it better and those two days seemed pretty productive. I know what kind of direction I want to start and it seems to be a good baseline in terms of overall performance. So yeah, it was a really good simulator session."

Asked if he's had any advice from his new teammate, he replied: "I think even if I tapped his shoulder and asked about the car, I don't think he's going to say the truth, you know?

"So I just try to discover it myself in the data, how he's driving, also on onboard videos. I already checked multiple videos from him in the last two grand prix.

"Like I said, I didn't feel the trickiness yet, the clear trickiness of the car. I'll feel it myself, and I'm sure it also depends on driving style. It will behave a little bit different."