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The targets Tsunoda has set for the rest of the Zandvoort weekend on his return to racing Racing Bulls enjoyed a positive opening day at the Dutch Grand Prix, with Arvid Lindblad reaching SQ3 on his first-ever visit to Zandvoort and Yuki Tsunoda delivering a solid performance on his return to the team. The Racing Bulls line-up was changed ahead of the weekend after Liam Lawson was drafted into Red Bull to replace the injured Isack Hadjar, who suffered a wrist injury during the summer break. Tsunoda consequently returned to Racing Bulls, while Lindblad continued alongside him. With both drivers facing their own challenges – Lindblad learning the Zandvoort circuit and Tsunoda adapting to the latest generation of Formula 1 machinery after around eight months away from real-world competition – the team entered Sprint Qualifying with plenty of unknowns. The opening session ultimately produced an encouraging result. Lindblad qualified 10th with a 1:12.737, while Tsunoda narrowly missed out on SQ3 and will start the Sprint from 12th. Lindblad reaches SQ3 on Zandvoort debutLindblad was particularly impressive, reaching the final segment of Sprint Qualifying despite having never previously driven at Zandvoort. “It’s been a positive Friday. It’s my first time driving at Zandvoort, so it hasn’t been easy, especially on a Sprint weekend,” the young driver said. The Racing Bulls driver praised the team for helping him make progress between practice and Sprint Qualifying and was particularly pleased with his SQ2 performance. “The team have done a good job, and we’ve already made a few steps forward compared to this morning,” Lindblad explained. “I’m really happy with my lap in SQ2, but not so satisfied with SQ3.” Although 10th place means Lindblad has reached SQ3, scoring points in the Sprint will still be a difficult task, with only the top eight finishers earning points. He is also expecting a challenging race due to the difficulty of overtaking at Zandvoort and the possibility of changing weather conditions. “Looking ahead to tomorrow, both Gabi and Pierre look quite fast this weekend and we know overtaking is particularly difficult around this track,” Lindblad said. “There’s also some uncertainty around the weather, with the possibility of a wet Sprint tomorrow morning. There are a few things we’ll review with the team overnight, and hopefully we can make another step forward for tomorrow.” Tsunoda makes impressive Racing Bulls returnTsunoda's 12th-place result was also encouraging given the circumstances. The Japanese driver had spent the majority of the 2026 season with Red Bull before returning to Racing Bulls for the Dutch Grand Prix following Lawson's promotion. With around eight months away from racing this generation of car in real-world conditions, Tsunoda had plenty to adapt to during a Sprint weekend. “The rain made things a little more challenging today, especially while I’m still getting up to speed,” Tsunoda explained. “The car is very different compared to previous years, particularly through the high-speed sections, so it was tricky at times, but I’m happy with my result in Sprint Qualifying.” Tsunoda believes there is still more performance to unlock as he continues to reacquaint himself with the car. “There are still a few areas where I can improve and continue learning, but I’m enjoying the format,” he said. For Tsunoda, however, the main priority is already looking beyond the Sprint towards Saturday's main qualifying session. “The main objective now is tomorrow’s qualifying, so I’ll keep building with every session and hopefully we can put it all together when it matters,” he added. Permane impressed with both driversRacing Bulls Team Principal Alan Permane was pleased with the team's overall performance, while acknowledging that there is still more pace available from the car. “It’s been a decent day here in Zandvoort – not perfect, but pretty good,” Permane said. He singled out Tsunoda for praise given the circumstances surrounding his return to Racing Bulls. Permane was equally impressed by Lindblad's performance on a circuit he had never previously driven. "Yuki has done a superb job today given the circumstances, which is fantastic,” he added. "Arvid has never driven here before, so to put the car into the top ten after just one hour of practice is impressive,” the team principal said. Both drivers were reportedly reasonably comfortable with the car, although Racing Bulls identified areas where further performance can be extracted. “Both drivers were reasonably happy with the car; we were certainly missing a little bit of pace in the first session, but we made some progress between FP1 and Sprint Qualifying,” Permane explained. The team will now focus on optimising the car overnight, particularly its energy management. “We’ll look at how we can extract a little more from the car and optimise our energy management overnight,” Permane said. “If we can do that, I think we have a good shot at getting both cars into Q3 tomorrow.”