Yuki Tsunoda has insisted that comparisons to Max Verstappen will remain “unfair” until he has identical Red Bull machinery to his team-mate in Formula 1.
The Japanese driver, who replaced Liam Lawson ahead of his home race in Suzuka, has made it clear that he’s focused on steady personal progress rather than matching Verstappen.
Tsunoda has struggled to deliver consistent results, scoring just 10 points in 11 races and currently enduring a six-race run without a top-10 finish.
However, his strongest display yet for Red Bull came at Spa-Francorchamps, where he qualified an impressive seventh.
That result coincided with a change in car specification – having run an older floor in the Sprint Race, Tsunoda received a long-awaited upgrade for qualifying.
However, it later emerged that the upgrade wasn’t the same as Verstappen’s, and Tsunoda’s RB21 was still missing several key components, including Red Bull’s latest front wing.
While taking time to praise his team-mate’s relentless performance levels and skill, Tsunoda was also keen to point out the disparity in experience – and machinery – between the two.
“How he [Verstappen] always extracts performance consistently every session, every Grand Prix, is very impressive,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“It’s not things that you can do very easily. And it seems like he can. It looks like he does it very easily.
“But at the same time, I just don’t think it’s fair to compare. And I don’t want to directly compare with him because he’s been here nine years in that car and I’m just jumping into the car.
“And also, let’s see if I get exactly the same car. Until that point, I can’t compare directly.
“But until then, I’m just focused on myself because I know clearly what I can improve and I just progress in my own way, step by step.”
Tsunoda battles RB21’s tricky set-up and team imbalance
Despite Tsunoda’s positive mindset, his struggles are deepened by the RB21’s notorious technical challenges.
The car has proven difficult to drive, with balance issues that even Verstappen has openly criticised.
But while the reigning F1 champion consistently extracts the maximum from the car, Red Bull’s development has largely centred on his demands.
This has left team-mates like Sergio Perez, Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly, and now Tsunoda struggling to match Verstappen’s pace and frequently overshadowed.
Despite the persistent frustrations, Tsunoda stayed optimistic following a 13th-place finish at Spa, as he bids to break his duck this weekend in Hungary.
“Missing the points is not ideal at all,” he added.
“But one thing that helps me is definitely, with my engineering side, with my side of the garage, at least we know that there’s clear progress and a clear pace.”
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