Yuki Tsunoda ‘not bringing anything to the table’ with Red Bull ‘overprotecting’
Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda is fighting for his F1 future
Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 F1 world champion and Sky F1 pundit, says Yuki Tsunoda is “not bringing anything to the table” at Red Bull.
And he believes team principal Laurent Mekies is “overprotecting” him by claiming the Japanese driver “had his best weekend in a long time” at the Mexican Grand Prix.
Jacques Villeneuve: Red Bull ‘overprotecting’ Yuki Tsunoda
Tsunoda has struggled since replacing Liam Lawson after the first two races of the F1 2025 season.
The 25-year-old has scored points in just six of his 18 appearances for Red Bull’s senior team and is yet to outqualify his teammate, the reigning four-time world champion Max Verstappen.
Tsunoda has scored points in three of the six races since the summer break, but qualified and finished 11th in Mexico last month.
Max Verstappen vs Yuki Tsunoda: Red Bull head-to-head scores for F1 2025
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates
Speaking after the race, Mekies – who previously worked with Tsunoda at the Racing Bulls sister squad – claimed the Japanese racer is “making steps forward” with his pace in Mexico comparable to that of Verstappen.
Mekies conceded that a slow pit stop by the team denied Tsunoda a higher finishing position at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Villeneuve has been left puzzled by Mekies’ comments, arguing that Tsunoda is letting the team down with his lack of pace and points, as well as his failure to assist Verstappen’s title charge against McLaren pair Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Appearing on the Sky F1 podcast, Villeneuve said: “I don’t understand how a team can say: ‘Oh, he’s had a good weekend.’
“Better, maybe, than other weekends he’s had, but is it a good weekend? He’s still very far off his teammate.
“He’s not bringing anything to the table in 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.
“It seems that they’re overprotecting him for some reason.
“But no, you can’t say that was a good weekend. It maybe was his least bad, but it wasn’t a good weekend.”
Villeneuve’s comments come after Mekies confirmed that Red Bull has delayed a final decision on its F1 2026 driver lineup, citing Tsunoda’s improved performances as a factor behind the move.
With Red Bull parting ways with long-term engine supplier Honda at the end of this season, it is widely believed that Tsunoda will be dropped by the team at the end of this season.
Isack Hadjar is expected to become Verstappen’s new teammate for F1 2026 after an impressive debut season, with Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad expected to be handed an F1 promotion with Racing Bulls.
If true, that would theoretically leave Tsunoda and Liam Lawson competing for the final Racing Bulls seat for next season.
PlanetF1.com understands that Lawson is the most likely driver to be left without a seat for F1 2026 as it stands.
Tsunoda appeared to lose a further F1 2026 lifeline last week when Aston Martin confirmed Jak Crawford, the American F2 driver, as its third driver for next season.
Crawford is set to attend every race of F1 2026 as the team’s reserve driver – a role Tsunoda had previously been linked to given his long-standing relationship with Honda, which will enter a technical partnership with Aston Martin from next season.
With Alpine set to decide between Franco Colapinto and reserve driver Paul Aron for a 2026 seat, a reprieve with the Red Bull family appears to be Tsunoda’s only hope of remaining on the grid for F1 2026.
More on Yuki Tsunoda and Red Bull Racing from PlanetF1.com
Mekies, who replaced Christian Horner as Red Bull team principal in July, insisted in Mexico that a final decision for F1 2026 will be made before the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on December 7.
He told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: “We are lucky enough, we are free to choose what we think we need to choose.
“[Tsunoda’s improved form is] of course it’s one of the reasons why we want to take a bit more time before we make a decision for drivers.
“Yuki is making steps forward. The other kids are making a step forward as well.
“So we have no reason to rush the decision, so we will take a bit more time.”
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