Marko disappointed with Tsunoda in Monaco

May 25 (GMM) Dr Helmut Marko continues to pile the pressure on Yuki Tsunoda’s shoulders.

After Red Bull ousted Liam Lawson early this season and put the more experienced Tsunoda in the cockpit, team advisor Marko enthused that a teammate for Max Verstappen had rarely been so close in pace.

However, the 82-year-old subsequently noted that the Japanese driver has struggled more as the pressure mounted on his shoulders – culminating in a spectacular rollover crash at Imola.

Unfortunately for Tsunoda, 25, his car had finally been brought up to the same specification as Verstappen’s – and with the all-new bodywork package as well that proved a pace breakthrough for Imola pole-sitter and winner Verstappen.

In Monaco, Tsunoda did not make the Q3 qualifying segment.

“It’s fair to say that Yuki’s car is not of the same specification as Max’s,” Marko said. “But that’s because he had a serious accident in Imola.

“The updates were for both cars. With his crash he clearly destroyed a lot of new parts,” the Austrian added. “We had to bring him back to the old specification.

“Max is the priority, and in this short period you simply cannot increase production enough to ensure that you have enough parts for both cars. But we still expected him to make it to the third qualifying segment.”