New Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda has said team principal Christian Horner has asked him to get as close to Max Verstappen as possible.
Tsunoda took Liam Lawson's seat at Red Bull after the New Zealand driver was demoted to their junior team Racing Bulls after just two races this season, with Lawson failing to score a pint.
Red Bull lost last year's contructors' championship to McLaren and are third in the table after the first two races of the season, with Lawson failing to score a poiunt.
"In the end Red Bull Racing are focused on Max [Verstappen] scoring a drivers' championship," Tsunoda told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"He has proven himself to have good potential to be a world champion -- even though Red Bull seems to be struggling a little now.
"Performance-wise he [Horner] wants me to be as close to Max as possible.
"In some races I can help with the strategy but he also promised me in some situations that if I'm able to be in front of Max that he wouldn't necessarily ask me to swap positions and make Max win."
Tsunoda, who has been with the junior team since 2021, said it feels like "fate" that his Red Bull debut will come in front of his home crowd at Suzeka this weekend.
The Japanese driver admitted to not having interacted with Verstappen since the switch yet but said he's confident of forging a bond with him.
"I mentioned in the past quite a while ago but he's a bit different from how he behaves in the car and outside of the car," he said.
"I'm not really worrying about the relationship we're going to have in both sides. I know what I want to do and probably how he drives and how he thinks."
