Christian Horner has now noticed a worrying Yuki Tsunoda ‘pattern’ at Red Bull during the Miami Grand Prix

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner will have mixed feelings about how Saturday played out for his team at the Miami Grand Prix.

At one point, it appeared as though Max Verstappen was in a position to potentially challenge both McLaren drivers for victory in the Sprint Race.

Red Bull called Verstappen into the pits to change onto slick tyres on a rapidly drying track, only to release him early and cause a collision with polesitter Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

It earned the Dutchman a 10-second penalty that saw him finish a race outside of the points for the first time since 2016.

Martin Brundle previously criticised Red Bull’s pit stops this season, and it was another costly error for the team which has coincidentally coincided with Jonathan Wheatley moving on to join Sauber.

There were a host of penalties dished out after the race that ended up benefitting Verstappen’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda.

He went from the back of the grid to P6, securing his best points finish since replacing Liam Lawson at Red Bull at the Japanese Grand Prix.

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Yuki Tsunoda developing worrying ‘pattern’ in qualifying says Christian Horner

Team principal Christian Horner is constantly looking for positives in the 24-year-old’s performances since his promotion but will find it difficult to see the bright side in both of his qualifying displays at the Miami Grand Prix.

Horner has praised Tsunoda his calling him up from Racing Bulls but needs to see more from him over one lap.

In an interview with Sky Sports F1 (3/5 10:53 pm) after qualifying, he was asked about the Japanese driver and said, “I think he did a good job to get into Q3.

“I think we’ve seen a little bit of a pattern now that his time in Q3, it’s almost like he’s overdriving slightly in Q3 a little bit because he’s only matching the time that he did in Q2 as the circuit’s still improving.

“But that will come with experience as he’s getting more familiar with the car.

“I thought he did a good job to get into Q3 today.”

In his own post-race interview, Tsunoda explained, “I was expecting more from qualifying, but the Sprint was a good recovery, so it’s mixed feelings for me today.

“The positive thing is I scored points in the Sprint and if I can go from the pitlane to P6 in the Sprint, then anything is possible.

“I gave it my all out there in qualifying, in previous qualis I have made some mistakes and I felt like this one was pretty clean, so I am a little disappointed it was only good enough for P10.

“The lap was alright but we definitely have a bit more to find, I don’t want to be in a bad mood and to keep overthinking it, it’s hard but we can’t think that straight away we will be top five.”

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Yuki Tsunoda learning how demanding Red Bull team are at the Miami Grand Prix

When Tsunoda was handed his chance to race alongside Verstappen at Suzuka, he would have been well aware that his role was never to try and beat the Dutchman.

It could be argued that even Verstappen’s closest title challengers would struggle to match him in equal machinery, let alone Tsunoda with very little preparation time.

The errors Horner is beginning to see in qualifying from Tsunoda suggest he’s trying too hard to match his teammate in a car that suits his strengths.

However, Tsunoda has admitted Red Bull are far more demanding than he expected, as praise is hard to come by even when he’s within touching distance of the four-time world champion.

He’ll be frustrated that he could only put in a lap within seven-tenths of Verstappen, and starting 10th for Sunday’s race won’t make his life any easier.

He’s also got Lewis Hamilton starting directly behind him and he too has a point to prove after another tough session.