Red Bull criticised for “overprotecting” Yuki Tsunoda after poor Mexico weekend

1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has accused Red Bull of “overprotecting” Yuki Tsunoda following another difficult weekend at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Tsunoda finished outside the top 10 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Sunday.

The Japanese driver’s race was ruined by a lengthy 12-second pit stop, dropping him well down the order.

Despite the difficult weekend, Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies described it as Tsunoda’s “best” performance in a long time.

Villeneuve was perplexed by Red Bull’s praise, reflecting on the Japanese driver’s display in Mexico.

“I don’t understand how a team can say, ‘Oh, he’s had a good weekend’. Better than maybe other weekends he’s had, but is it a good weekend?” he said on Sky’s F1 podcast.

“He’s still very far off his team-mate. He’s not bringing anything to the table either in pace, points for the team, or helping Max for the championship. And he has a lot of experience. We’ve seen the best of him, he’s already on the way down, so it seems that they’re overprotecting him for some reason.

“But no, you can’t say that was a good weekend. It was maybe his least bad, but it wasn’t a good weekend.”

Tsunoda’s F1 future uncertain

Tsunoda’s Red Bull future remains in doubt. The team is expected to make decisions on their three vacant seats after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December.

He is likely to lose his seat to Isack Hadjar, who has impressed with Racing Bulls this season.

Villeneuve argued Red Bull shouldn’t retain Tsunoda purely for his experience.

“We all talk about, in a situation like this, ‘you need experience’ – and yes, I agree, but you need good experience,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter if a driver has 20 years of racing. If he wasn’t good or good enough, he still won’t be good enough, and he still won’t help you to understand the new regulations. He still won’t help you to develop and test that car, so why would you put a known quantity that you know is not good enough?

“In that case, you might as well go for the young rookie or left-field, take someone and take a chance that will bring new energy and a new thought process to the team. What you already have, you know it won’t cut it.”