09/08/2025 06:30
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has blamed the outfit itself
for not delivering Yuki Tsunoda with a good enough package for the
Hungarian Grand Prix. The final event before the F1 summer break
was another disaster for Tsunoda, as he found himself eliminated
from Q1 for the fourth time in the last eight grands prix. To add
to his struggles, the Milton Keynes-based outfit made the Japanese
driver start from the pit lane, so it could introduce a new power
unit from outside his legal pool. Whilst it offers Tsunoda more
engine security for the remainder of the season, it ended any hope
of ending his point-less run. Hungary saw Tsunoda's streak of
point-less races extend to seven, marking a new unwanted record for
a Red Bull driver. Max Verstappen also endured a grand prix to
forget after only salvaging ninth. Despite the poor result, Mekies
praised Tsunoda's performance. Mekies highlighted how close the
25-year-old was to Verstappen in qualifying, the closest the
Frenchman believes Tsunoda has ever been to the four-time world
champion. "It's the sort of weekend where it's easy to be
frustrated, and especially, for both Max and Yuki, because we
didn't give them the car that they could compete with," Mekies told
select media including RacingNews365 in Hungary. "And then to add
to the party, we got Yuki to start from the pit lane to get another
PU in the car for the rest of the season. So it's normal that the
frustration is high. "The reality is that Yuki qualified, probably
for the first time in his career, two-tenths from Max in the first
run in Q1, a tenth and a half from Max in the second run of Q1 and
Max was not exactly having fun on track. "So, it's actually a
strong, very strong sample, maybe his best sample so far. And after
also the progression in Spa, I think it's something that he and his
engineering team have been doing a very good job at."
