Villeneuve: Tsunoda probably the worst of Verstappen teammates

1997 Formula 1 World Champion, Villeneuve, analysing the aftermath Hungarian Grand Prix, where Verstappen could only manage ninth on what was arguably Red Bull’s weakest weekend of the season.

The poor showing in Budapest follows a turbulent month for the team, with Christian Horner dismissed and Laurent Mekies taking over as Red Bull Racing boss. The junior team, Racing Bulls, is now under the direction of Alan Permane, with Tsunoda continuing to struggle alongside Verstappen.

Speaking about the gulf in performance between the two, Villeneuve was direct: “Tsunoda is probably the worst of them all so far. A lot of people say it's unfair, that the car is made for Max. But Max might be the only one who actually gives good feedback to the team. So yes, they develop the car, so it gets better and better for him.

“They're not there trying to make it difficult for the number two driver. The thing is, there's not many like Max. If you look in the past, there were more than one at his level in the paddock. And then you had a few good drivers. And then a few average as well."

“Now there are a lot of good drivers instead of only a few," reckons Villeneuve. "You don't really have exceptional drivers anymore. So Max really stands out. So it's hard to put someone next to him. Because if all the drivers that fight each other are barely good, they’ll all look great amongst each other.

“That’s until you get someone like Max and you think, ‘Okay, maybe they're all not good enough.’ So is it the fact that all the drivers that have been paired with Max so far have all been average drivers?”

Villeneuve then speculated on who might actually be able to hold their own against Verstappen in the same machinery: “It would be good to see a Leclerc next to Max to see how good he really is. Or it'd be good to put Alonso now next to Max, because that's a known quantity. It'd be good to put Norris next to Max, so we would really see if Norris is exceptional or is he just very good?

“That would help to quantify things. We know that Max is exceptional but then the drivers next to him have just not been good enough and there's no point saying, ‘Oh poor them.’ No, they're just not good enough. That's it. They're barely good.

“And that's what has happened with Tsunoda. He's had four or five years of experience already. He's had his best and clearly, it's not good enough. That's it. So he's been given this chance and too bad. And he was wanting that chance, he was screaming for it.

“He was put in and he didn't cut it. It's that simple and you can't feel bad for him. He has been given the chance to be in the top team, and he didn’t cut it. He was promoted to the big league and you can see the frustration. And it's making him drive even worse because he knows he's not quick enough right now," insisted Villeneuve

For Villeneuve, the current state of Red Bull Racing is a reflection of Verstappen’s dominance and the lack of a competent supporting act: “The team has been going down a little bit. It's not what it used to be. It's not performing like it used to be. They're having a hard time finding a second driver that's good enough.

“It's a one-man show right now because there's no other driver so far that they’ve put in the car that is capable of working close to the level of Max, including developing the car.

“That's a big issue for the team. And a lot of important people have left the team. Normally that takes time to rebuild. It is not a short-term project.”

Stats show this season that one-man shows do not win F1 Constructors' titles. Red Bull lie a distant P4 in the standings, after 14 Rounds, with 194 points, of which Verstappen has bagged 187 of those. Tsunoda has only ten points to his name so far this season.

Notably, he has scored less than the rookies in the junior Racing Bulls team, Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson, whom the Japanese driver replaced after only two races earlier this year.