Tsunoda states he cannot be compared with Verstappen

07:58, 01 Aug

bySandy van Wijngaarden

As a teammate of Max Verstappen, Yuki Tsunoda is often compared to the four-time world champion. In Hungary, the Japanese driver stated that these comparisons are actually not fair.

Tsunoda has been Verstappen's teammate at Red Bull Racing since the Japanese Grand Prix. The Japanese driver has found it difficult since his promotion to the main team. During qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps, an update to the floor brought him a bit closer to the four-time world champion.

In Hungary, Tsunoda told, among others, GPblog about the impressive performances of his teammate. "Yeah, he is, I can say, the current best driver on the grid. How he always extracts performance from the [car], consistently, every session, every Grand Prix, it's very impressive. It's one of the things that you can [not] do very easily, and it seems like he can. It looks like he does it very easily."

Tsunoda does not like being compared to teammate Verstappen

Nevertheless, the Japanese driver does not want to be compared to the Dutchman as he lacks the same experience with the team and does not drive the RB21 with the same updates.

"But at the same time, I don't think it's fully fair to compare and I don't want [to be] directly compared with him. Because, like I said, he's been here for nine years in the [Red Bull] car, and I'm just jumping into the car. Let's see if I get exactly the same car," Tsunoda continued.

Yuki Tsunoda - Red Bull Contentpool

The Red Bull Racing driver did admit that he can learn a lot from Verstappen and there are many benefits to having him as a teammate.

"Now, at that point, I can compare directly, but until then, I just focus on myself, because I know pretty well I can improve, and I just progress in my way, step by step.

"But a good thing about being with him, he's just able to learn a lot of things very quickly because he's done it. He does a lot of things that I've never done. He's always able to kind of be a good reference. I can confirm something when I try something. So, yeah, he's an impressive guy, and definitely I recognise that he's a good driver," Tsunoda concluded.

Since his promotion to Red Bull Racing, Tsunoda has scored seven points. The Japanese driver has not scored points in the past six Grand Prix.