Could Tsunoda be on par with Verstappen? Juan Pablo Montoya thinks so

According to Montoya, it all began during the Imola Grand Prix weekend. Tsunoda crashed hard during the qualification that weekend. Even though the Japanese driver was not close to Verstappen before that incident, he didn't score any points after Imola. In the qualification for the Spanish GP, the gap in the qualification between the Red Bull Racing drivers was six-tenths in favor of Verstappen, placing Tsunoda in twentieth position. “The difference between the best and worst driver could be at most three-tenths,” Montoya said.

While he emphasized that these are only rumours, the seven-time Grand Prix winner did have a suspicion about why the gap between the drivers of the Austrian team is so large. “I think Yuki was put back into a much older specification of the car after the accident in Imola because they had no other [updated] cars. If that's the case, it would sort of explain what's going on,” said the 49-year-old.

“Imagine if they put Yuki and Max in Racing Bulls, maybe then there would be no difference in speed. Max has never driven that car, and the feel is completely different than the RB21,” the Colombian speculated. This incident even made him think for a while, and after a brief pause, he continued: “This is all much more complex than you think.”