Red Bull Racing driver Yuki Tsunoda had another weekend he won’t want to reflect on at the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix.
Yuki Tsunoda has been placed in Formula 1’s most difficult seat alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull.
It wasn’t where he initially expected to be at the start of the 2025 season.
Tsunoda was overlooked for Liam Lawson by Red Bull at the end of last year and was preparing for another campaign at Racing Bulls.
However, Lawson’s difficulties with the RB21 were clear for everyone to see, and two races into the campaign, Tsunoda earned his long-awaited promotion.
In the seven race weekends Tsunoda has taken part in since joining Red Bull, he’s only scored seven points.
The likes of Nico Hulkenberg, Pierre Gasly and crucially Isack Hadjar have all outscored him since he joined Red Bull.
RANK | DRIVER | TEAM | POINTS |
1 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 25 |
2 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 18 |
3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 15 |
4 | George Russell | Mercedes | 12 |
5 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | 10 |
6 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 8 |
7 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | 6 |
8 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 4 |
9 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 2 |
10 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1 |
The Spanish Grand Prix was another really difficult event for the 25-year-old.
Tsunoda qualified last and started from the pit lane, and Nico Rosberg was left seriously unimpressed by Red Bull’s communication to their driver at one of his key moments in the race.
Verstappen received some interesting radio messages in Spain, but this particular exchange, or lack thereof, ended up impacting both drivers.
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Nico Rosberg couldn’t believe Yuki Tsunoda wasn’t warned about Max Verstappen
Verstappen had just pitted for the third time during the closing stages of the race as he tried to chase down both McLaren drivers.
However, he came out in a group of traffic that included Tsunoda who was involved in a battle of his own.
David Croft said on commentary for Sky Sports F1 (1/6 3:07 pm): “Yuki Tsunoda, gets past Esteban Ocon and gets into turn one ahead of his teammate Max Verstappen!”
Rosberg was stunned and replied: “No, come on guys! You’ve got to be on the radio to him, are you kidding me?
“That cost Max a couple of tenths, seriously? That was not well-managed by Red Bull.”
Croft said: “They’re lucky it didn’t cost him even more,” to which Rosberg responded, “Yeah, they were on the radio, but too late. He should have backed out well before that.”
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How Red Bull see Yuki Tsunoda’s future after disappointing Spanish Grand Prix result
Tsunoda has now been eliminated in the first part of qualifying on three of the last five occasions.
He was 18th in Sprint qualifying in Miami before starting from the pit lane and his Q1 crash at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix left him using an old floor after sustaining serious damage to his car.
What will worry Red Bull more is the fact that Tsunoda suggested he completed a ‘clean lap’ in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, suggesting there were no major mistakes which led to being six-tenths off Verstappen.
Category | Yuki Tsunoda | Max Verstappen |
2025 points | 10 | 136 |
Grand Prix results | 0 | 5 |
Grand Prix qualifying | 0 | 5 |
Grand Prix wins | 0 | 2 |
Grand Prix poles | 0 | 2 |
Grand Prix podiums | 0 | 4 |
Best finish | 9th | 1st |
Retirements | 0 | 0 |
Retirements (classified finish) | 0 | 0 |
Fastest laps | 0 | 1 |
Grand Prix points finishes | 0 | 0 |
Sprint results | 0 | 1 |
Sprint qualifying | 0 | 1 |
Sprint wins | 0 | 0 |
Sprint poles | 0 | 0 |
Sprint podiums | 0 | 0 |
Tsunoda seems to be having similar problems to Lawson in the RB21 and Verstappen has repeatedly said that the team need to address what’s going on with the car rather than pointing the finger at his various teammates.
Hadjar is the ‘hottest candidate’ to replace Tsunoda if Red Bull do decide to make a change, but that might only continue the cycle of good drivers being swallowed up by an almost impossible-to-drive car.
Tsunoda’s contract expires at the end of the year and he’s currently not doing enough to convince Christian Horner that he deserves an extension.
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