Yuki Tsunoda will be concerned after Christian Horner identified the ‘real problem’ he’s facing since his Red Bull promotion

Red Bull Racing driver Yuki Tsunoda came away from the Monaco Grand Prix empty-handed after another frustrating weekend since his long-awaited promotion from the Racing Bulls team.

Yuki Tsunoda has only scored seven points in his first six race weekends since joining Red Bull as he continues to get to grips with the difficult-to-drive RB21.

He’s only qualified in the top 10 on three occasions since his promotion with his best result on a Saturday being at the opening race in Australia when he was still at Racing Bulls.

The Monaco Grand Prix is notorious for qualifying being the most important session of the weekend and unfortunately for the Japanese driver, he struggled to extract the maximum out of his car.

He got slightly unlucky, losing his first flying lap in Q2 due to the red flag being brought out after George Russell’s car failed.

However, he was only able to secure 12th on the grid, and the new two-stop mandate in Monaco did him no favours after he dived into the pits after the opening lap.

Ted Kravitz couldn’t believe Tsunoda’s strategy after he got stuck behind Lawson and the other cars slowing the field down to benefit their teammates.

Team principal Christian Horner explained after the race how Tsunoda caused Red Bull a ‘problem’ with his qualifying performance.

It’s unfortunate that it came at the same time as the Racing Bulls pair achieving their strongest performance of the season.

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Yuki Tsunoda’s qualifying performance at the Monaco Grand Prix a ‘real problem’ for Red Bull

Horner was speaking to Motorsport after the race as Tsunoda came home in P17 and said: “It was very dynamic. There was a lot going on and you were trying to think of all the different scenarios.

“It was all unfolding before your eyes, especially what teams like Williams and Racing Bulls were doing.

“The teams that had their cars close together and could work as a duo had an advantage today.

“Normally you do one pit stop and you’re just crossing your fingers that nothing happens to the reliability, but today there was a lot more going on.”

Asked specifically about Tsunoda’s strategy, Horner explained: “With Yuki, we actually did the opposite of Max by pitting on lap 1.

“He seemed to be able to profit from that until the people in front of him started playing with tactics and driving extremely slowly.”

It was then put to Horner that Tsunoda’s race was ruined by Lawson and he continued: “But it wasn’t just Liam.

“There was also Carlos Sainz, Alexander Albon and Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

“So the poor guy had three cars in front of him. But the real problem is that Yuki was too far back after qualifying, which is why he got into trouble.”

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Yuki Tsunoda racing for his Red Bull future with Isack Hadjar impressing at Racing Bulls

Tsunoda’s Red Bull contract expires at the end of the season and he’ll know what’s expected of him if he wants to be Max Verstappen’s teammate in 2026.

However, Hadjar now has more points than Lawson and Tsunoda combined and will be turning heads within the Red Bull hierarchy with his performances.

Helmut Marko was critical of Hadjar at the start of the Monaco race weekend but would have quickly changed his mind once he saw his performance in qualifying and the race.

Hadjar has been linked with replacing Tsunoda next year, although he may be wary about such a fast promotion considering how many drivers have struggled alongside Verstappen over the years.

Tsunoda will argue that he needs a full pre-season to get up to speed with the team, but Red Bull rarely afford their drivers that much time.

He needs to concentrate on improving his performance in qualifying, and even if Horner has written off winning the constructors’ championship at this early stage of the season, he needs to start supporting Verstappen in his bid to win the drivers’ title.