Dutch racing driver Tim Coronel believes Yuki Tsunoda is “not yet good enough” to race for Red Bull, following a mixed debut for the team in the Japanese Grand Prix.
Tsunoda looked immediately comfortable in the RB21 from his first lap in free practice at Suzuka, and was consistently within three-tenths of Max Verstappen ahead of qualifying.
However, it all went wrong for the Japanese driver in Q2 after making a costly mistake going into the first corner on his final lap.
It cost Tsunoda a place Q3 as he had to settle for 15th, behind Liam Lawson who he replaced at Red Bull ahead of his home grand prix.
A grid penalty for Carlos Sainz promoted Tsunoda a position on the grid; however, he failed to score a point after finishing in 12th.
Tsunoda’s race pace was good enough to finish in the points, although overtaking was near-impossible during the third round of the season.
Qualifying was, ultimately, his downfall, leading to criticism from Coronel.
“He is not yet good enough for this car,” Coronel told RacingNews365. “Because otherwise he would have been more forward. Let’s put that first.
“But if you look relative to the whole field, I don’t think he fell through the ice that much.”
What also worked against Tsunoda, was that Max Verstappen stunned both McLaren drivers to convert pole position into victory.
Pole was claimed by setting a new lap record, making Tsunoda’s elimination and failure to score a point that much more apparent.
“You have to get points anyway, come on,” insisted Coronel. “If the #1 gets first, then you have to get points at least.”
