Tsunoda: "It's not fair to be compared to Verstappen"

"Max has been with this team for nine years and has been driving the same car. I've just moved on. Of course, I'm learning a lot from him, but it's not right for me to make direct comparisons," Tsunoda said.

Assessing the new floor update added to the RB car at Spa, Tsunoda said that the car's overall driving feel had improved and that its ability to qualify in Q3 was an indication of this.

However, he admitted that it was still difficult to see a clear improvement in race pace: “The conditions were variable, I was often stuck behind a car. I tried to be aggressive in the last two laps at Spa to pass Pierre, but the speed difference on the straights was too great.”

Tsunoda, who stated that the results did not fully reflect the development, said that he could have scored points if not for the strategy error at Spa and that he was close to qualifying in Q3: “If the addition of even a single package to the car has brought me closer to Max, that shows that the difference is big.”

Tsunoda also stated that the support and morale-boosting approach of coach Laurent Mekies during race weekends gave him extra confidence.

Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull Racing

Photo: Erik Junius

Tsunoda said that although the results may look bad from the outside, the data they obtained on the engineering side clearly shows the improvement: “Even just looking at the lap times on paper, you can see that our pace is good.”

Tsunoda stated that he does not expect a new front wing before the Hungarian GP, adding that he will continue to work with the current settings and wants to obtain clearer data in dry conditions.