Max Verstappen hands Yuki Tsunoda harsh Red Bull welcome: 'Work things out for yourself'

Max Verstappen has asserted Yuki Tsunoda must work things out for himself as he gets up to speed at Red Bull.

Tsunoda will make his Red Bull debut at the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend having been called up in place of a struggling Liam Lawson.

Lawson became the latest driver to run into issues extracting pace from the Red Bull car, a situation that hurt others in the past.

Tsunoda received his promotion to Red Bull in his fifth F1 campaign, making him the most experienced Red Bull junior to get the move to the senior team.

When asked if he thinks Tsunoda is deserving of the drive, Verstappen told media including RacingNews365: “Everyone that tries to make it in the sport is working for it every day, they deserve a shot for sure.”

Verstappen is known to be unhappy with how quickly Red Bull opted to send Lawson back to Racing Bulls.

Christian Horner has stated it did so to protect the New Zealander and not send him into a further spiral and eliminate his confidence.

As Tsunoda prepares for his debut event, Verstappen admitted he will not spend much time assisting his new team-mate getting up to speed as their experiences may be different.

“I’ve only seen Yuki yesterday quickly, he's been busy at the factory,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s not really up to me.

“He has to find it out for himself because my experience might not be his experience.”