Red Bull boss Christian Horner has claimed that Yuki Tsunoda is a better suit as Max Verstappen’s teammate than Sergio Perez. The Briton highlighted that the driver started life at Milton Keynes fairly reasonably. But the Japanese driver’s confidence was shaken after his incident at the Emilia-Romagna GP.
Red Bull decided to make a driver change coming into 2025. Sergio Perez had struggled towards the end of his time with the Austrian team, and the journey came to an end.
But Checo’s replacement, Liam Lawson, was out of the team after just two race weekends in 2025. Yuki Tsunoda came in, and has also struggled. This has raised questions about whether Perez was actually doing a reasonable job in a car that is hard to drive.
Christian Horner was asked the same question by Sky Sports F1 after the Canadian GP. But the 51-year-old claimed that Tsunoda was lapping close to Verstappen before his crash in Imola.
“Now, Yuki came in and was finding his feet reasonably to begin with. And then I think that incident in Imola did affect his confidence.” said the Briton. [as reported by RacingNews365]
“But on the metrics we see, he’s actually closer to Max. And hopefully, with a bit of time and confidence, performances will come,” he added.
Yuki Tsunoda claimed that his Red Bull car showed positive signs of improvement in Canada though. The Japanese driver was happy to experience a calmer RB21 at Montreal. Tsunoda climbed up from the back of the grid to finish 12th at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve after receiving a 10-place grid penalty for a Red Flag infringement in FP3.
Christian Horner explains why Yuki Tsunoda and other Max Verstappen teammates struggle at Red Bull
Christian Horner simply explained that modern F1 cars are “difficult cars to drive” when asked about the discrepancies between Max Verstappen and any of his teammates at Red Bull, including Yuki Tsunoda.
According to Horner, F1 teams have been focused on delivering the fastest cars possible over the last five years. This makes the cars harder to drive sometimes. The Briton also claimed that Verstappen is a master at extracting the maximum out of his car.
“If you look at the way the cars have been developed over the last five years, you’re always dealing with the information that you have to try and produce the fastest car that you can,” Horner said to Sky Sports.
“And sometimes fast cars are difficult cars to drive, and Max has a very acute ability to be able to extract the maximum,” he added.
The Red Bull car has been known to work on a knife’s edge over the last two years. This means that the car’s ceiling is achieving poles and race wins. But a small mistake can throw the car down into the midfield. This is a potential reason behind the difference in performance between Verstappen and his teammates.
