Red Bull team principal Christian Horner spoke about the “big delta” between Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda after the Austrian Grand Prix.
Tsunoda had a poor race in Austria, struggling to show any pace over the race weekend.
He finished P18 in qualifying and needed the race in P16, which was last among the cars that finished the race.
Tsunoda was involved in a collision with Alpine’s Franco Colapinto that gave the Japanese driver a penalty and damage to his car, forcing a pit stop.
During his media debrief, Horner reacted to the poor race result and where the racing outfit goes from here.
“Well look, Yuki had a horrible race, again it started to go wrong for him in Q1 yesterday, his first run in Q1 was fine, second run he made a mistake at Turn 1, then qualified badly,” Horner told reporters.
“Then he was running in traffic, unable to pass, then picks up a penalty, and it just compounds things.
“So, of course, we’ll look to see how we can support him, but, you know, there’s a big delta between the two cars, and internally we ask all of those questions that no doubt you ask in terms of why, and we’ll look at the car has evolved over years in a specific direction, but we’ll see if we can help Yuki and rebuild his confidence in Silverstone.”
Tsunoda has seven points in 11 races at Red Bull, scoring at four different races. In the last four races, however, he left empty-handed and is losing comfort in the car.
He is in the last year of his contract and faces pressure to impress the rest of the teams on the grid.
Tsunoda is Red Bull’s second driver alongside Verstappen this season. Liam Lawson was his teammate for the first two races until he was axed from the team and sent down to Racing Bulls.
While Tsunoda is driving a bit better than Lawson did, the difference is not notable and points to issues other than the drivers.
For years, Verstappen’s teammates have struggled with the car, and Tsunoda is one of many who have gone through the revolving door.
As the car has become less dominant, Horner is facing the realities of building the car around one driver, rather than considering other drivers’ preferences.
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