The 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has hit back at suggestions Yuki Tsunoda has been performing better in Formula 1, suggesting Red Bull has been “overprotecting” him.
Although he’s down 21-0 to Max Verstappen in their qualifying head-to-head, Tsunoda had one of his best performances so far at the Mexico Grand Prix, with ‘just’ a 0.211s deficit to Red Bull’s lead car as he went out in Q2.
In the race, a delayed pitstop aimed at hindering Verstappen’s rivals cost Tsunoda a likely ninth place – or a potential top six/seven, the Japanese racer has claimed – with Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies owning up to ‘killing a few points [Tsunoda] would have scored on merit’.
“Yuki had his best weekend in a long time,” the Frenchman insisted. “We have said that a few times, but it is true.”
Villeneuve, however, strongly disagreed with Mekies’ stance on Sky Sports’ F1 Show podcast.
“I don't understand how a team can say, ‘Oh, he's had a good weekend’. Better than maybe other weekends he's had, but is it a good weekend?” he rhetorically pondered.
“He's still very far off his team-mate. He's not bringing anything to the table either in pace, points for the team, or helping Max for the championship.
“And he has a lot of experience. We've seen the best of him, he's already on the way down, so it seems that they're overprotecting him for some reason.
“But no, you can't say that was a good weekend. It was maybe his least bad, but it wasn't a good weekend.”
As Red Bull keeps pondering options to pick Verstappen’s team-mate for F1’s new technical era in 2026, Tsunoda’s five seasons’ worth of experience doesn’t mean much to Villeneuve.
“We all talk about, in a situation like this, ‘you need experience’ – and yes, I agree, but you need good experience,” the Canadian argued.
“It doesn't matter if a driver has 20 years of racing. If he wasn't good or good enough, he still won't be good enough, and he still won't help you to understand the new regulations. He still won't help you to develop and test that car, so why would you put a known quantity that you know is not good enough?
“In that case, you might as well go for the young rookie or left-field, take someone and take a chance that will bring new energy and a new thought process to the team. What you already have, you know it won't cut it.”
Current Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar is the favourite to get the second Red Bull seat for 2026, following an impressive rookie F1 season that included a podium finish at Zandvoort. He currently lies 10th in the standings, while Tsunoda is down in 17th, with 39 points to 28.
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