01/08/2025 06:30
Yuki Tsunoda has insisted it is not "really fair" for him to be
compared to Max Verstappen, following 11 races alongside the
Dutchman at Red Bull. Since replacing Liam Lawson following the
Chinese Grand Prix, Tsunoda has joined the group of former number
two Red Bull drivers to struggle alongside Verstappen. The
four-time F1 champion has often proven too difficult to partner
with for many drivers, resulting in a staggering performance
difference. It has been the same for Tsunoda, who has scored just
seven points since jumping into the RB21. In the same 11-race
spell, Verstappen has scored 149 points. Tsunoda has discovered
how difficult it is to partner Verstappen, who he deems to be the
strongest driver on the grid, but does not believe the duo should
be compared. Asked by select media, including RacingNews365 , how
it has been comparing himself to Verstappen, Tsunoda said: "Yeah,
he is, I can say, the current best driver on the grid. "How he
always extracts performance from the [car], consistently, every
session, every grand prix, it's very impressive. It's one of the
things that you can [not] do very easily, and it seems like he can.
He does it very easily. "But at the same time, I don't think it's
just really fair to compare [us], and I don't want [to be] directly
compared with him." Tsunoda's reasoning for no Verstappen
comparison Tsunoda has his reasons as to why comparing Red Bull's
current driver pairing is unfair, the first being his lack of
experience at the Milton Keynes-based outfit compared to
Verstappen. Verstappen has raced for Red Bull since the early
stages of the 2016 season, and has had 10 seasons to understand how
to extract the most from its cars. On the point of Red Bull's
cars, Tsunoda believes it is not correct to compare him to his
team-mate until he has the same version of the RB21, with the same
upgrades as the reigning world champion. Arguing why a comparison
is unfair, Tsunoda added: "Because of, like I said, he's had nine
years in the [Red Bull] car, and I'm just jumping into the car.
Let's see if I get exactly the same car. "Now, at that point, I can
compare directly, but until then, I just focus on myself, because I
know pretty well I can improve, and I just progress in my way, step
by step. "But a good thing about being with him, he's just able to
learn a lot of things very quickly because he's done it. He does a
lot of things that I've never done. "He's always able to kind of be
a good reference. I can confirm something when I try something. So,
yeah, he's an impressive guy, and definitely I recognise that he's
a good driver."
