Yuki Tsunoda was left bewildered after he qualified last for the Spanish Grand Prix and was lapped by Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen during the race on his way to 13th.

Tsunoda failed to reach Q3 for the third consecutive race and has scored just seven points since replacing Liam Lawson ahead of the third round this season in Japan.

After qualifying in Spain, Tsunoda told Sky Sports F1: “Suddenly compared to any other Grand Prix I lost performance quite significantly.

“Since FP1, the amount of grip I had was very low. Something strange was happening. We tried our best to cure the issue but, to be honest, whatever we did, we made a better balance but it was not, overall, a step forward.

“The lap I had in Q1 I was pretty happy with it, the confidence was there but the grip itself is not following at all. It’s a pretty tough situation.”

Tsunoda has performed better than Lawson with Q3 appearances in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Miami but is yet to show signs of helping Red Bull and Verstappen in his quest for a record-equalling fifth world title.

Sergio Perez was used strategically by Red Bull at some races in 2021 and 2022, but none of Verstappen’s team-mates have been near him outside of that period.

“This is the seventh year we are having the same conversations. Seven years,” said Sky Sports F1‘s Karun Chandhok on The F1 Show.

“That’s an awfully long time since Red Bull haven’t found a second driver competitive enough to rack up the results and points that they need, since Daniel Ricciardo left at the end of 2018.

“All of these drivers that have come through, the Pierre Gaslys and the Alex Albons, they are all racking up results in other cars, aren’t they? There’s something fundamentally that is not right in the way that car is designed or works for other drivers. It’s so bespoke for Max. It’s reminiscent of the Michael Schumacher-Benetton days.

“Schumacher left [after 1995] and the team won one race in the next seven years, having won two World Championships in a row and that’s the risk [for Red Bull].

“If Max leaves, that whole operation will need to rethink the way they design their cars for other people.”

Does Hadjar’s driving style make him a strong Red Bull candidate?

Red Bull have shown no signs of replacing Tsunoda in the near future and Verstappen defended his team-mate’s recent struggles.

“Yuki isn’t a pancake. This [with the 2nd Red Bull driver] has been going on for a long time,” he said.

“Maybe that’s a sign. Of what? That you can decide yourself.”

It’s unclear what exactly Verstappen was implying, but his comments could either be pointing to his level of excellence, the shortcomings of Red Bull’s cars, or both.

Verstappen, widely considered to be the clear premier driver on the current grid, is known to be able to handle car styles and set-ups that leave some of the world’s best drivers befuddled.

He enjoys having a sharp front end which can result in the rear of his car being loose, something other drivers don’t want as they don’t have the confidence to get on the power hard and early.

While Tsunoda has been struggling, Isack Hadjar continues to impress in his rookie campaign at Racing Bulls with more strong results at the last two events in Monaco and Spain, where he was sixth and seventh.

Hadjar tested the 2024 Red Bull car at the end of last year and found the car “comfortable” rather than tricky to handle. Track observers have noticed he drives aggressively too, which begs the question of whether the Frenchman could deal with the mammoth task of being Verstappen’s team-mate at Red Bull.

“There is one driver who Racing Bulls think has a very similar style to Max Verstappen. I don’t think he’s ready yet. But is Isaac Hadjar the answer to their problems?” questioned Sky Sports F1‘s David Croft.

“If Hadjar is the closest thing to Max Verstappen, then he has the easier task of adapting to that car, which has been designed and developed more to Max’s liking.

“Red Bull say because Sergio Perez was a bit reluctant in coming forward to give feedback last year, so therefore, the feedback was all Max’s, therefore, the car kind of went in a Max direction.”

However, Chandhok pointed out that Red Bull said Lawson had a similar driving style to Verstappen before this year. Indeed, Christian Horner stated Lawson “doesn’t shy away from having a very positive front end in the car”.

Chandhok said: “If I was Hadjar I’d be trying to hang on to the Racing Bulls seat, then try and get myself a deal at Ferrari or Aston Martin for example.”

Hadjar has beaten Lawson in their seven qualifyings as Racing Bulls team-mates and finished in the top 10 five times compared to Lawson’s one.

2016 F1 world champion Nico Rosberg agrees with Chandhok’s verdict that the Frenchman should not be looking to step up to Red Bull.

“If I was Hadjar, if ever the team started to mention (the possibility of a promotion to Red Bull), I would literally decline, decline as hard as you possibly can,” he said.

“He’s doing such a great job with Racing Bulls. He’s in a great position. Just flat decline and say, ‘no way!’.”

Why would F1 drivers refuse to be Verstappen’s team-mate?

Tsunoda is Verstappen’s fifth different team-mate after Daniel Ricciardo left of his own accord for a big-money offer from Renault from 2019.

Red Bull’s next two experiments with promising drivers from their own pool – Gasly and Albon – lasted just 12 and 26 races respectively.

That led to them going for Perez from 2021 and, as Red Bull returned to title-winning ways in the following years, that arrangement worked well, until mid-2023 when the characteristics of Red Bull’s car started to cause the Mexican repeat problems.

Gasly and Albon have both impressed since leaving Red Bull, while Perez could return to the grid next year. The debate about Verstappen’s team-mates is whether the Dutchman is just so good compared to other drivers, or is the car designed specifically for him?

“I make that Max Verstappen is a team-mate killer, without exaggerating. It’s just horrible to be a team-mate next to that guy,” said Rosberg.

“No one gets closer than six tenths, which in F1, is like a different category. Poor Yuki, who’s a fantastic driver, is in that right now, and really struggling. It’s just so tough. He’s doing laps that feel good and yet he’s miles away. That’s such a tough situation to be in.

“I struggle to understand why (the team can’t engineer the car to Tsunoda’s liking). Everything just points to Max Verstappen being so special.

“And that’s the only thing you can say about that, because all these guys are great drivers. It looks like he’s just on another level to everyone else.”

Chandhok appears to disagree though and compared Red Bull to cases in MotoGP, where it’s more common for certain riders to get the most out of their equipment.

“I think if you were one of those top four or five drivers in F1, you would have a lot of doubts around being able to get in there and get on with the car straight away,” he explained.

“It’s not a topic of your conversation we have much in F1 because we expect the good and the great drivers to be adaptable and to get on with it.

“Carlos Sainz has changed teams five times and he’s learned the style and got on with it. Oscar Piastri went to McLaren, we heard all about Daniel’s troubles and the car not suiting him and the car not suiting his style, and Oscar just got in and got on with it.

“There’s an element of, I think the good drivers are adaptable, but I do think the Red Bull example is very extreme. This is something we often hear in MotoGP, where riders often say that a certain bike and a certain style is built for a rider and it takes a long time for other riders to adapt.

“The Red Bull example is the only one I can think of since, as I said, Benetton in the 1990s, which is a parallel to MotoGP. We used to have this with Ducati, for example, only Casey Stoner could ride it.

“I think it’s a bit of a risky move if any one of the top drivers went there, because the car does seem to be on a sort of extreme edge in terms of the requirements of a driver.”

The 2025 Formula 1 season pauses for breath after the European triple-header before resuming live on Sky Sports F1 with the Canadian Grand Prix from June 13-15. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime.