Barely three months ago, Yuki Tsunoda’s window to drive for Red Bull Racing in Formula One appeared to have closed. Despite putting forward a strong case through the 2024 season for its sister team, RB, Red Bull passed over Tsunoda when replacing Sergio Pérez. Instead, it promoted Tsunoda’s teammate Liam Lawson into the seat.

The fact remains that Red Bull have a minimum level of expectation for their second driver - and that's to be within about 0.3 seconds a lap of Verstappen on a consistent basis. That's what Tsunoda needs to do to convince Red Bull that he deserves to be considered as a contender for a seat in 2026.

The signs were there early that Liam Lawson was perhaps not mature enough to handle the job as Red Bull Racing teammate to four-time Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen