Marko sees a big difference between Verstappen and Tsunoda: 'He struggles there'

08:44, 31 Aug

byKada Sarkozi

While Max Verstappen finished inside the top three in qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix, Yuki Tsunoda was once again eliminated early. Helmut Marko reacted to the Japanese driver's performance after the session.

Tsunoda was the only driver from the Red Bull family who failed to make it through to Q3, finishing in P12.

Around two tenths separated the Japanese driver from a place in the final session of the day.

Top advisor Helmut Marko talked about Tsunoda's Saturday to the Austrian public broadcaster, ORF.

"He had the same package as Verstappen this time. When it comes to qualifying, Max knows how to squeeze something extra out, and Yuki struggles with that.

"This is a meritocracy here, and he has to deliver consistently," said the 82-year-old man from Graz.

Tsunoda 'expected more' in Zandvoort

The Red Bull driver himself didn't understand his result in qualifying.

"I was expecting more. Honestly, the confidence I had in the car was pretty good and I was able to control the car more than ever at any other Grand Prix.

“So to be honest, it doesn't really stack up with the feeling I had in the car and the lap time [I did].

"Very strange. I must say I didn't do any mistakes. I was also working hard quite a lot to gain every single millisecond from every corner, and also how I progressed throughout the week or processed, with the engineers, I'm happy with it. But just yeah, it didn't show really much in the qualifying [in terms of] the lap time," Tsunoda told GPblog among others.

"It's quite positive like at least [I know compared to Verstappen] where I'm lacking and where I'm gaining.

"I don't know, practice was pretty competitive with Max, there's always something, I gain some corners, he gains some corners. I have to check the data but it doesn't really stack up [with] what I was having previously and the lap time I had," the Japanese driver concluded.

Talking to this website, Marko also rated Isack Hadjar's result, after the rookie finished in P4.

"Fantastic. He’s a very good driver and the team is doing well."

Asked whether that gives him an idea for next year, he added: "No, no."

The Racing Bulls driver also looked ahead starting from the best grid position of his career.