While Max Verstappen will start on the second row of the grid for the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix, team-mate Yuki Tsunoda failed to find the speed for a position better than 20th.

It’s a result that has prompted renewed concerns about his status at the team — and whether or not he’d rather head back to Racing Bulls.

Yuki Tsunoda denies missing Racing Bulls after dismal Spain qualifying

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Since being promoted from Racing Bulls to Red Bull Racing ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, Yuki Tsunoda has struggled.

His best starting position of the F1 2025 campaign came at the season opener, where he qualified fifth behind the wheel of his Racing Bulls machine. Since then, his highest starting position has been eighth.

And his finishing positions have left a lot to be desired. While he’s taken home points in three races, he’s added only seven to Red Bull’s tally.

At the moment, he sits 13th in the championship while Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen is third overall. Back at Racing Bulls, Isack Hadjar has scored a total of 15 points for 10th in the standings.

And once again, Tsunoda will be starting from the very back of the grid come Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix.

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Speaking to media, including PlanetF1.com, after being eliminated from the session, Tsunoda sounded perplexed as to why his performance was so lacking.

“Straightaway from FP1, I said already that something feels not right,” he admitted.

“I don’t think set-up because to be honest, we try almost every set-up.

“There’s obviously some preference between there and there, but I’m still convinced that we’re able to at least put it all together in terms of the car balance — and like I said, car balance itself is not bad, and my confidence was there.

“The lap in qualifying in both tyres, especially last push, was pretty good.

“Doesn’t really stack up with the results, the pace I’m having.”

Over the radio, Tsunoda communicated to the team that he felt he’d had a clean lap in Q1. The fact that it was only good enough for 20th was a shock.

“Whatever I do, nothing happens and feels like this car is eating the tyres like hell, having degradation massively. It really stacks up,” he explained.

“I think think the core limitations, they’re there, and I don’t know what it is. I can’t really have any answer for that.”

Meanwhile, Tsunoda has been outperformed by at least one Racing Bulls car in all but two of the six races he’s contested with Red Bull. It certainly begs the question: Does Tsunoda miss the Racing Bulls team?

“Not at all,” he said in response to the question from PlanetF1.com.

“I mean, I’m happy with the Red Bull, obviously. Glad to see that Racing Bulls are, you know, having a good progression since last year.

“Going to Red Bull was a challenge, but still, like I said, I was pretty happy with the pace, but just this Grand Prix was a bit strange.

“I still believe that I can do something better and something that no one is expecting.

“I’m very very happy to see they’re performing, but at the same time, I’m really focusing now to Red Bull to how I can work it better.”

Tsunoda has maintained the attitude of a driver with a much more predictable car in saying he’s happy with Red Bull, but he’ll be hoping for a surprise sooner rather than later.

Ahead of this weekend, Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner admitted to Bild that “Yuki has the hardest job in the world: Being Max’s teammate.”

But that won’t be enough to guarantee a spot on the team for him come 2026.

“On a personal level, Yuki fits in perfectly with the team,” Horner explained. “He’s a good guy who contributes well to the garage.

“But if he wants to be considered for next year, he needs to keep improving.”

A 20th place start certainly won’t be the ‘improvement’ that Horner was asking for.

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