Out in Q2 at the Japanese Grand Prix after lapping half a second slower than Max Verstappen, that is “not good enough”.

This is the blunt verdict coming from 1997 World Champion and Sky F1 pundit Jacques Villeneuve, who believes Tsunoda’s tyre-saving Red Bull RB21 set-up hamstrung him in qualifying, on a day when Verstappen claimed a shock pole in the sister Red Bull.

Yuki Tsunoda Japan Q2 exit: Red Bull set-up backfired?

It had been a positive debut race weekend with Red Bull so far for Tsunoda, after replacing Liam Lawson, with three-tenths the gap between him and Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen going into qualifying.

But, by the end of Q2, that gap grew to half a second, and that was enough to ensure that Tsunoda was out as the slowest driver in Q2, qualifying P15 and a place behind Lawson after his return to the junior Racing Bulls team.

A three-place grid penalty given to Williams’ Carlos Sainz after qualifying for impeding Lewis Hamilton would elevate Lawson and Tsunoda both one place up the starting order.

And when put to Villeneuve that P15 only is not what Red Bull wanted from Tsunoda, he said: “No, and he’s half a second behind Verstappen.

“That’s not good enough.

“At least it’s out of Q1, but it’s not what they were wanting. And he was looking a lot better all through the weekend.”

With Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko stating ahead of the race weekend that the team were considering making the second Red Bull car an easier one to drive upon Tsunoda’s arrival, Villeneuve believes a race-focused set-up from Tsunoda was one he suffered for in qualifying.

“I think he’s paying the price for his set-up choice at this point with a very high downforce,” Villeneuve continued, “which might help him in the race to save the tyres, but he won’t have any straight-line speed.”

Asked if could understand Tsunoda’s decision to run a lot more wing, Villeneuve added: “No. Maybe lack of experience.

“And like he said, he went for comfort. Comfort is never fast.”

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Speaking to Sky F1 post-qualifying, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner shed further light on Tsunoda’s reasoning for carrying extra downforce on his Red Bull RB21, and the circumstances surrounding that Q2 exit.

“It’s all subjective to the day,” he began. “This morning, they both ran a bit more downforce, and Yuki found it was more to his liking.

“And certainly in Q1, he was looking competitive. He was within a tenth of Max and just one place behind. Then in Q2, he hasn’t actually improved, and that last run, I think he was a bit possibly too quick into Turn 1. He had a big moment at Turn 2, and then you’re never going to recover it from there.

“Up to that point, I think he’s actually done very well.

“So it’s a shame, because I think he would have comfortably made the top 10 today, but, you know, he can still race well from there tomorrow.”

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