Red Bull boss Christian Horner asserts Yuki Tsunoda is an upgrade on Sergio Perez

Red Bull boss Christian Horner has claimed that Yuki Tsunoda has been closer to Max Verstappen than either Liam Lawson or Sergio Perez. The Japanese driver joined the team this year when the Austrian team decided to drop the Kiwi after just 2 races.

The seat alongside Max Verstappen has been a poisoned chalice in F1 for a while. On one hand, a young driver gets a seat at Red Bull. On the other hand, the car is just too hard to drive, which makes the gap between the Dutch driver and his teammates much larger.

Once that happens, the concertina effect kicks in, where the gap leads to pressure on the driver. The subsequent pressure leads to mistakes, and the spiral continues. This was something that brilliant drivers like Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, Sergio Perez, Liam Lawson, and now Yuki Tsunoda are going through.

Yuki Tsunoda's start at Red Bull has, however, been a bit better compared to his predecessors, as in his first few sessions he was much closer to Max Verstappen. The gap, however, doesn't remain the same as the weekend progresses and Verstappen pulls things out, and this has led to increased pressure on the Japanese driver.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner has, however, thrown his weight behind Yuki Tsunoda and said that the Japanese driver has been closer to Max Verstappen compared to his predecessors Sergio Perez and Liam Lawson. Addressing questions around how the Mexican's performances now look better as other drivers have had their shot at the car, Horner told Sky Sports F1.

"If you look at the way the cars have been developed over the last five years, you're always dealing with the information that you have to try and produce the fastest car that you can. And sometimes fast cars are difficult cars to drive, and Max has a very acute ability to be able to extract the maximum."

He added,

"Now, Yuki came in and was finding his feet reasonably to begin with. And then I think that incident in Imola did affect his confidence. But on the metrics we see, he's actually closer to Max. And hopefully, with a bit of time and confidence, performances will come."

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Red Bull had considered Nico Hulkenberg before Sergio Perez

In a startling revelation by Helmut Marko, the Austrian revealed that Red Bull was talking with both Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez before it went with the Mexican in 2020. The season was run during the pandemic, and at the time the team was looking at a potential replacement for Alex Albon. Talking about how the team went with Perez, Marko revealed,

"Maybe it’s a good thing that he didn’t get the seat next to Max anyway. He was in discussions. Then Perez won the race in Bahrain, which was just in the decision-making phase and then tipped the scales.”

He added,

“I have to say, he did very well after his unexpected comeback. He has a long-term contract with Sauber/Audi. That’s something I wouldn’t give up either.”

The seat alongside Max Verstappen is almost always going to be contentious because of how well the driver performs, compounded by the car's issues. It will be interesting to see how Yuki Tsunoda finds a better grip on things as he tries to secure his future with the team.

Edited by Mitali