Seven races into his stint with Red Bull, having replaced Liam Lawson – dropped after just two grand prix weekends – Yuki Tsunoda continues to struggle to extract competitive lap times from the RB21. It’s a pattern of failure which has been repeated for several years, ever since Daniel Ricciardo quit for Renault ahead of the 2019 season.
Ricciardo was at least close to Max Verstappen on track – too close at times, and the team’s response to their crash in Baku in 2018 was among Ricciardo’s motivations to leave. Every driver who has slotted into that seat ever since then has failed messily, usually sooner rather than later.
