Yuki Tsunoda says evaluating him to Max Verstappen is ‘unfair’ with completely different automobile

Pink Bull has felt like a one-car – or at the least one-driver – crew for a number of years now because the second seat has been occupied by a rotating solid of people who’re granted a vanishingly small window to show themselves earlier than being fired or demoted. 4-time world champion Max Verstappen is clearly a once-in-a-generation expertise, however it’s tough to measure anybody in opposition to him after they don’t have an equal automobile spec – particularly one so tough because the RB21.

Learn Additionally:

Yuki Tsunoda, belatedly promoted from Racing Bulls to fill the seat when Liam Lawson – who had leapfrogged him within the Pink Bull Junior Crew queue – was dropped after two rounds, has completed within the high 10 simply 3 times since his elevation. His part-season with Pink Bull has been punctuated by high-profile mishaps comparable to his shunt in qualifying at Imola, through which he broke a brand-new flooring.

However in Belgium final weekend, after receiving a newer flooring spec between the dash race and qualifying, he reached Q3 for the primary time since Miami. He then completed exterior the highest 10 once more, however that was extra an element of Pink Bull botching its communications and never calling him in for slicks till after he had handed the pit entry.

New crew boss Laurent Mekies mentioned the crew took accountability for that one however some questions nonetheless linger. It emerged that even the ‘new’ flooring was not of the identical spec utilized by Verstappen – and, heading into the Hungary weekend, many parts of Tsunoda’s RB21 are nonetheless not the latest, together with the entrance wing.

“Lacking the factors just isn’t splendid in any respect,” Tsunoda advised reporters on the Hungaroring.

“However one factor that helps me is certainly, with my engineering aspect, with my aspect of the storage, at the least we all know that there is clear progress and a transparent tempo.”

Yuki Tsunoda, Pink Bull Racing Crew

Picture by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Pictures through Getty Pictures

Tsunoda doesn’t face the axe till season’s finish on the earliest, however one comparability all drivers face is the one with their team-mate. And the gulf between Tsunoda and Verstappen stays marked – historically Pink Bull will tolerate the second driver being three tenths per lap off Verstappen on pure tempo, however past that their future turns into much less sure.

What’s attention-grabbing right here is that Tsunoda has been on a journey from downplaying the difficulties of driving a peaky, inconsistent automobile – based mostly on sim expertise earlier than he acquired in the true factor – to having to face the truth of being alongside probably the most ferocious rivals on the grid. And but he nonetheless clings on to the hope of getting nearer, given equal equipment.

“, how he [Verstappen] all the time extracts efficiency persistently each session, each grand prix, could be very spectacular,” mentioned Tsunoda. “It isn’t issues that you are able to do very simply. And it looks like he can. It seems to be like he does it very simply.

“However on the identical time, I simply do not suppose it is honest to check. And I do not wish to straight examine with him as a result of he is been right here 9 years in that automobile and I am simply leaping into the automobile.

“And likewise, I am not – effectively, let’s have a look at if I get precisely the identical automobile. Till that time, I am unable to examine straight.

Learn Additionally:

“However till then, I am simply targeted on myself as a result of I do know clearly what I can enhance and I simply progress in my very own manner, step-by-step.”

Given Mekies is known to be extra sympathetic to Tsunoda than Horner, based mostly on their earlier relationship at Racing Bulls, Tsunoda could get his want sooner moderately than later. And having a crew principal from a strong engineering background, shorn of tasks for advertising and marketing and such, ought to guarantee Yuki has the help he requires.

However can anybody critically hope to match or beat Max Verstappen, given equal gear? That’s maybe essentially the most daunting job of all.