Yuki Tsunoda makes ‘ahead of Max Verstappen’ argument despite Las Vegas setback

Yuki Tsunoda believes his pace in practice relative to Max Verstappen is proof that he’s making progress despite another tough weekend at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Tsunoda was knocked out in Q1 in Sin City, as Red Bull blamed incorrect tyre pressures for his lack of pace in wet conditions.

The Japanese driver elected to start from the pit lane but couldn’t make any progress through the field as he struggled in dirty air.

Up until qualifying, it had been a promising weekend for Tsunoda.

In FP1, Tsunoda was third-fastest, just under a tenth ahead of teammate Verstappen.

FP2 was less positive for Tsunoda, setting the 15th-best time of the session, 0.5s off the four-time world champion.

Final practice was difficult to read, given the changeable conditions.

However, Tsunoda felt that being ahead of Verstappen at times in practice shows he’s on the right path.

“Multiple times – FP1, FP2, FP3 – in multiple laps I was ahead of Max in performance runs,” he explained. “I think [that’s] something that I didn’t have and we didn’t see probably for a long time.

“Obviously one of his strengths is he’ll bring the car on his level, into another level in qualifying, which is his strength. But also I had confidence as well into qualifying [that] I can perform better than the other race weekends, and these things happen.

“I guess people noticed it. But at the same time what I want is a result – and, obviously, the team as well. But we can’t keep pointing like this in terms of this mistake [in qualifying] and everything. So [we need to] tidy it up for Qatar.”

Pace “going in the right direction”

Tsunoda’s early pit stop didn’t coincide with the Virtual Safety Car, meaning he couldn’t capitalise on the caution.

Tsunoda spent most of the race in the midfield, battling in traffic.

Unlike Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, who also stopped early and performed a significant undercut to move up the order, Tsunoda was never in contention for points.

“The [Virtual] Safety Car [was deployed] right after I pitted. So that’s not ideal at all, and that’s it really,” he added.

“I stayed in the dirty air afterwards because people came into the pits. It feels like everything is so far going against me.”

“I think the pace I’ve shown until qualifying was good and qualifying was just completely not in my control and a lost opportunity.

“It’s tough. At least the pace itself, I guess, is going the right direction but it’s frustrating that I know I couldn’t really show it in the result.”

Red Bull are still yet to decide on their 2026 driver line-ups.

Tsunoda is expected to be replaced by Isack Hadjar, leaving him with no spot on the grid.