Yuki Tsunoda already dealing with a ‘worrying trend’ at Red Bull that mirrors where Sergio Perez was ‘struggling’ last season

Red Bull Racing will be hoping that another two weeks of work behind the scenes will help Yuki Tsunoda continue to get up to speed after his mid-season switch.

To call what Red Bull did mid-season may be technically true, but Yuki Tsunoda’s promotion after two race weekends was highly unexpected.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was very positive about Liam Lawson after deciding to bring the New Zealander in for Sergio Perez after a difficult 2024 campaign.

However, Lawson’s complaints about the car didn’t fall on deaf ears and an immediate swap was deemed necessary ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix.

Since then, Tsunoda has scored points for Red Bull in Bahrain and Miami but has been well off the pace of new teammate Max Verstappen.

Journalist Ben Anderson believes he’s already spotted a ‘worrying trend’ in Tsunoda’s race weekends that harks back to Perez’s difficulties last season.

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda’s life outside F1 from height to parents

Yuki Tsunoda unable to extract the maximum pace from his Red Bull during qualifying

Anderson was asked on The Race F1 Podcast if Tsunoda is currently doing a better job than Perez and has vindicated Red Bull’s decision to drop the Mexican and said, “I have been wondering about this myself and at the moment I would say no, he doesn’t look like an upgrade.

“At his best, he’s occupying the area that Perez was often occupying at his best towards the end of last season, which is this kind of eighth, ninth, 10th, just about in Q3, scraping a few points.

“Obviously, you expect that Tsunoda has a higher ceiling for growth because he’s been in Formula 1 for a lot less time than Perez had been.

“But I’m already seeing this kind of worrying trend in the early races where he seems to be saying the right thing, feels quite comfortable with the car at a certain baseline through the practice sessions and even in the early stages of qualifying.

“And then when it comes to the kind of final, you’ve got to go for the more uncomfortable setup, front wing, flap adjustment, lay it all on the line, Q3 lap, he falls apart. He doesn’t make the progression, [he] doesn’t have the same feeling in the car.

“So, you start to think, well, actually the best outcome of this change via obviously the weird Liam Lawson anomaly at the start of the season, is that it’s showing Red Bull if they’re listening and watching properly, some of what Perez has been saying last season.

“That the car is just very, very difficult to drive on the limit for someone who isn’t Max Verstappen.”

READ MORE: All you need to know about Red Bull Racing from engine to Ford links

Yuki Tsunoda impacted by same Red Bull qualifying issues as Sergio Perez

Tsunoda has reached Q3 on three occasions since his promotion, but his best performance is still starting P5 in Australia while driving for Racing Bulls.

It’s a problem that plagued the end of Perez’s time with Red Bull, as he was frequently trying to make up positions having been eliminated in the first two sessions of qualifying.

Towards the end of last season at the Mexico City Grand Prix, Perez was in real difficulty at Red Bull and qualified 18th at his home race.

Speaking to Viaplay, Christian Horner explained, “He’s been struggling, he was saying, with the car.

“So, under braking and on corner entry. So, of course, it’s a big difference between the time in the two cars.

“So very disappointing for him, particularly in front of his home crowd. But I’m sure he’ll give it everything tomorrow.”

Verstappen’s talents have misled Red Bull’s development plans, to the point where the likes of Tsunoda are finding it increasingly difficult to extract the maximum pace out of the car.

Horner will hope Tsunoda doesn’t fall into the same trap as Perez did at Imola last season, otherwise, it could be another underwhelming result for the Japanese driver.