Red Bull told how Yuki Tsunoda now ‘hurts’ Max Verstappen after Oscar Piastri scored Spanish Grand Prix pole

Oscar Piastri beat Lando Norris to pole position for the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix, with Red Bull star Max Verstappen only able to qualify in third with a 0.302-second deficit.

Championship leader Piastri recorded a 1:11.546 lap time at the end of Q3 to beat Norris by 0.209s. It marks the biggest margin between first and second place in a qualifying session in the 2025 F1 season so far. George Russell set an identical lap time to Verstappen to get P4.

Red Bull racer Verstappen and Mercedes pilot Russell failing to usurp Piastri and Norris even gifted McLaren their first front-row lock-out at the Spanish GP since 1998. McLaren will now hope having two drivers at the front of the order leads to their first win in Spain since 2005.

Verstappen and Red Bull will be fighting McLaren pair Piastri and Norris plus Mercedes stars Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who qualified P6, single-handedly in the Spanish GP after Yuki Tsunoda failed to get out of Q1 and posted the slowest time in qualifying this Saturday.

Yuki Tsunoda qualifying P20 for the Spanish GP proves he ‘hurts’ Max Verstappen at Red Bull

Tsunoda asked Red Bull to check his floor after the 25-year-old’s first Q1 run in the fear that he sustained damage. But he could not improve enough at the end of the opening phase of qualifying and sealed P20, even after Franco Colapinto’s mechanical problem in Q1 in Spain.

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Verstappen was 0.587s quicker in Q1 than Tsunoda, as the Dutchman finished second in the first segment to Piastri by 0.247s. And Nico Rosberg now believes Tsunoda’s lack of speed in qualifying since joining Red Bull this March ‘hurts’ Verstappen as he has to fight on his own.

Rosberg said on Sky Sports F1 (31/05, 13:50): “This is the moment that Verstappen’s lack of a strong teammate, or a teammate who’s close, hurts him because he’s not able to compare to anybody.

“He just has his own data, and that’s it, whereas everyone else is pushing each other [to go] faster and faster and faster. It is a disadvantage.”

Yuki Tsunoda was slower than Max Verstappen in Spain than Liam Lawson was in China

Red Bull promoted Tsunoda to replace Liam Lawson ahead of the third round of the season, having seen the 23-year-old finish qualifying for the Shanghai Sprint and Chinese Grand Prix as the slowest driver. Lawson was 0.813s and 0.750s slower than Verstappen in Shanghai.

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Tsunoda’s deficit to Verstappen in qualifying for the Spanish GP even dwarfs Lawson’s plight in China, which cost the Kiwi his seat. But Lawson was also 1.076s slower than the four-time defending F1 drivers’ championship winner during Q1 for the season-opening Australian GP.

Red Bull will fear Tsunoda’s deficit at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, and it is also one of the last things the Japanese driver needed. Red Bull see Isack Hadjar as an option to replace Tsunoda in 2026, with his average qualifying deficit to Verstappen also now sitting at 0.722s.