Red Bull told that Yuki Tsunoda has now uncovered a ‘larger problem’ within the team since his Racing Bulls promotion

Red Bull Racing driver Yuki Tsunoda is quickly learning why Christian Horner considers his position on the grid the ‘hardest job in F1’.

That’s what Christian Horner said in his press conference at last year’s Qatar Grand Prix, and since then Max Verstappen has had three different teammates at Red Bull.

Sergio Perez’s exit was confirmed by Red Bull at the start of the winter break after he finished nearly 300 points behind Verstappen in last year’s drivers’ championship.

Liam Lawson was Perez’s chosen replacement despite his lack of experience, but it turned out to be one of Horner and Helmut Marko’s biggest mistakes.

The New Zealander is clearly a very talented driver, but his promotion was far too soon in his F1 career, and just two races later, he was back driving for Racing Bulls.

This led to Red Bull finally giving Yuki Tsunoda his chance in his fifth season on the grid.

He was brought into the team ahead of his home race in Japan, and while he’s been a step up from Lawson over the past five races, the gap between himself and Verstappen has highlighted a far greater problem that Horner has to solve.

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Yuki Tsunoda has uncovered a ‘larger problem’ at Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen

Speaking on the Chequered Flag Podcast, former McLaren mechanic and pundit Marc Priestley was speaking about Tsunoda’s performance at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Tsunoda managed to squeeze into the points on Sunday following a huge crash he had in qualifying on his first flying lap.

Talking about the 25-year-old’s performance, Priestley said: “It was a tough weekend, a monumental accident on Saturday, one of the biggest I’ve seen for a very long time and thankfully he walked away from that.

“But there was a full rebuild required for that car, so the team had to break the curfew, I think they were in the garages until about 2 am.

“That was a brand new chassis, new power unit, loads of new components to get that car back together.

“He started from the pit lane and actually to take the final point, you’ve got to say it’s a pretty decent recovery drive.

“But the bigger picture here is that Red Bull still haven’t found anyone that’s able to get anywhere near the sort of talent level or at least anywhere near the results level that Max Verstappen’s able to do.

“That’s P10 in a car that dominated this Grand Prix and, give him some credit, he’s a young driver, he’s early in his career with Red Bull.

“But it’s a larger problem, isn’t it, that Red Bull have? They’ve cycled through a whole load of drivers and never managed to find anybody close to Max.”

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Yuki Tsunoda faces important Red Bull season to secure his Formula 1 future

Before Tsunoda earned his promotion to drive for Red Bull in Japan, it looked like he was entering his final season as part of the organisation.

His main backers Honda are leaving Red Bull to work exclusively with Aston Martin next season, and after five years, it looked like it was time for Tsunoda to make way for another young talent.

The 25-year-old’s importance within the Red Bull set-up has increased since his promotion, with Lawson now the driver under the most pressure, but that doesn’t guarantee him a long-term future within the team.

Tsunoda’s contract only runs until the end of the season and there aren’t many landing spots for him elsewhere should Horner decide to go in a different direction.

Isack Hadjar is being tipped to potentially replace Tsunoda after his strong start to his rookie season, but that might only exacerbate the problem Priestley is talking about.

Red Bull have created this conundrum for themselves and relied on Verstappen’s brilliance to paper over the cracks.

They need to find the right balance between both sides of the garage and set the team up in a way that allows drivers like Tsunoda to thrive.