Red Bull needs to give Max Verstappen’s team mates less competitive set-ups because they cannot handle his “unique” approach to extracting performance from the car, says team principal Christian Horner.
The team has replaced Liam Lawson as Verstappen’s team mate this weekend after he failed to score points in either of the opening rounds. Horner said he was pleased with Yuki Tsunoda’s performance on his debut for the team in first practice at Suzuka.
“It was certainly a good start for Yuki, settling into the car pretty well,” Horner told Sky. “Obviously it’s quite a different feel to what he’s used to, but I thought he settled in and he gave very good feedback and now both drivers are working away to improve the car for the next session.”
Tsunoda is Verstappen’s third different team mate in the last four races as Red Bull dropped Sergio Perez at the end of last season, only to seek a new replacement soon afterwards. Perez and Lawson both struggled to match Verstappen’s pace in the car and Horner said the team have to accept the need to configure their two cars differently to suit their drivers.
“I think we have to provide a different set-up,” he said. “Max’s ability to extract lap time from the car is unique and I think that we haven’t seen another driver able to do that in the way that Max is able to.”
However that will inevitably mean Verstappen’s team mate’s car is unlikely to match the lap times he can produce, Horner admitted.
“You need to give almost a calmer car to whoever is the partner driver to give a more settled and predictable feel,” he said. “That’s not necessarily the quickest car, but it is definitely a more confidence-inspiring car for whichever driver.”
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This has consequences for Red Bull’s approach to the championships, said Horner, as they are favouring one driver while their rivals try to get the best out of two. “Our rules of engagement are very clear,” he said. “Max is the lead driver and Yuki’s job is to support him as best as he can to retain that drivers’ championship.
“The performance that he’s just put in that last session is exactly where we want him to be, to be up there able to support Max.
“Our advantage is that we’re very clear in that strategy. Of course McLaren have got two drivers fighting for a championship, they’ll be taking points theoretically off each other. Ferrari the same, so in a very tight battle, sometimes you’ve got to back your horse.”
He described Verstappen as a once-in-a-generation talent, but admitted that pursuing his development preferences has left them with a car others cannot drive as successfully. “Being his team mate is arguably the toughest job in Formula 1,” said Horner.
“Sergio Perez for four years, for three of those years did a pretty decent job. He was second in the drivers’ championship in ’23, third in ’22 and managed to win some very decent races.
“Of course the development direction that we push to extract performance from the car, we’re always looking to create the fastest car, whether that was in 2021 or ’22, ’23, and of course last year was a lot tougher. But Max is very clear what he wants from the car and of course that will always give you a stronger return if we can give him what he’s looking for.”
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Horner admitted the team made a mistake by promoting Lawson after just 11 grand prix appearances. “With hindsight I think we just asked too much too soon from Liam,” he said.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do with the car and unfortunately I think that sometimes you’ve got to be cruel to be kind.
“But he’s not out of Formula 1. He’s gone back to the Racing Bulls, we still believe in him as a talent for the future and making use of Yuki’s experience will hopefully enable the engineers to make faster progress with the car.”
Tsunoda “brings experience and I think that knowledge is very useful as this season is all going to be about a development race,” said Horner. “That’s why we took the decision early.
“I think Liam would have got there but it might have taken five, six, seven races or half a season. We don’t have that amount of time so after discussing it internally we decided we’ve got to rip the plaster off this now and get on with it. That’s what we chose to do and Yuki’s jumped in and done a good job initially.”
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