Yuki Tsunoda is once again starting a race on the back foot since his promotion to Red Bull Racing this season.

Red Bull made the switch between Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson after just two races, but it’s not a move that’s had the desired effect.

Tsunoda is averaging less than a point per race weekend since his promotion and trails teammate Max Verstappen by 145 points.

Isack Hadjar is the leading Red Bull-backed driver behind Verstappen in the drivers’ championship, and if Liam Lawson maintains his sixth-place finish at the Austrian Grand Prix, he’ll also leapfrog the Japanese driver.

It’s the last thing Tsunoda would have hoped for after finally being given his chance to race alongside Verstappen for Red Bull.

Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Yuki Tsunoda failing to prove Christian Horner wrong after Red Bull promotion

When he was overlooked for Lawson initially at the start of the year, he looked more determined than ever to prove team principal Christian Horner wrong.

But it speaks volumes that Tsunoda’s best qualifying performance this season came at the Australian Grand Prix when he was still a Racing Bulls driver.

Karun Chandhok forgave Tsunoda’s Q1 exit in Austria, given how close he was to Verstappen.

However, he’s quickly learning exactly why Sergio Perez had such a tough time at Red Bull last year.

David Coulthard says there’s ‘no pressure’ on Yuki Tsunoda after Austrian Grand Prix qualifying

Former F1 driver David Coulthard was speaking on Channel 4’s coverage after qualifying in Austria.

Coulthard was asked whether Tsunoda’s car was simply undrivable and responded: “You know, I guess the frustrating thing for him, I guess, is he’s not actually that far away from Max at that point.

“But just modern Formula 1 is so close, I’m sure he’s got tales of I just didn’t quite get the lap together.

“On the radio, we heard him saying that it was just undrivable, and that tends to be the frustration when you’ve just gone out in the first part of qualifying.

“Yeah, look, it isn’t working for him right now, but there’s no pressure on him within Red Bull really because they don’t have any other options.

“He’s an experienced guy, they like working with him, they just need to work with him further to understand how to get more performance from him.”

Photo by Peter Fox – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

Yuki Tsunoda’s ‘undrivable’ claim echoes Sergio Perez’s Red Bull struggles

Perez spent more and more time last season complaining about how difficult the Red Bull car was to drive.

Red Bull eventually apologised to Perez for not listening to him sooner, but by the time they had identified what was wrong, it was too late for the Mexican.

Last season at the Italian Grand Prix, Perez’s struggles with his Red Bull were echoed by Verstappen, who also failed to maximise the car’s performance in qualifying.

Speaking to the media, via The Race, Perez said: “The disconnection in the balance we are currently facing is the main issue.

“We can get some competitive laps at times, but it’s very difficult to have any progression.”

Tsunoda’s performances are very similar to Perez’s, looking relatively competitive at times, but being unable to properly push the car to its limits in the same way as Verstappen.

The grid is so close now that Tsunoda can’t afford to be a couple of tenths behind his teammate if he wants to start scoring points.

Tsunoda believes his driving is almost the same as Verstappen’s, but that doesn’t explain why he’s not able to extract the same pace out of his Red Bull.