Major Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull concern raised by F1 champion

1997 F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve believes Yuki Tsunoda will struggle to develop the Red Bull RB21 car.

Tsunoda was called up to replace Liam Lawson at the Milton Keynes-based squad after just two rounds into the current campaign, as the New Zealander struggled for form alongside Max Verstappen.

While Tsunoda has posted improved results compared to his predecessor, he too has struggled to extract pace from the car.

Aside from Verstappen's victory in Japan, Red Bull has had little answer for McLaren in the opening phase of the season.

As Red Bull looks to add pace to the car in the coming races, Villeneuve does not have faith that Tsunoda can help develop the squad's challenger.

“Yuki Tsunoda is doing better than Liam Lawson, but I don’t expect him to actually help develop the car,” Villeneuve told Vision4Sport.

“It's just a different mindset, and I don't think he's at that level.”

Villeneuve pointed to Verstappen's advantage in the experience he has with the Red Bull team and how it played in his favour at Suzuka earlier this year.

“Max Verstappen cannot share the workload,” he added. “That’s not him. 

“You could see that with the setups that were used in Suzuka. One went the safe route and that ended up being a mistake. 

“The other went with maximising what he had by doing a certain thing, and it worked out.”