Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko remains confident that the team’s newest driver, Yuki Tsunoda, will soon be back in the points. The Japanese driver matched the unwanted record of former Red Bull driver Mark Webber in the UK with his fifth consecutive race without points, but according to Marko, there was still an upward trend to be seen at Silverstone. ‘We notice an improvement in performance,’ the advisor even reveals.
While Christian Horner is only two days away from his role as team boss at Red Bull, advisor Helmut Marko is back to business as usual. In his farewell message to Horner, the Austrian already indicated that Red Bull does not want to give up the fight for a fifth world title for Max Verstappen. Marko also continues to support Yuki Tsunoda, who is still struggling.
“Yuki Tsunoda has had a hard time during several Grand Prix weekends, but in England we already saw an upward trend,” Marko writes in his column for Speedweek. “The gap to Max was smaller in most free practice sessions than before, and he was able to start from eleventh place in England.” However, Tsunoda finished fifteenth at Silverstone, meaning the Japanese driver did not score points for the fifth race weekend in a row. Tsunoda equals the unwanted record of Mark Webber from 2009, and is only the second Red Bull driver to not score any points in five consecutive Grands Prix.
Optimistic
According to Marko, Tsunoda is working hard to improve. “We have had intensive conversations with Yuki,” the advisor reveals. “He is also working with sports psychologists. Unfortunately, like Max, he had no chance in the race (at Silverstone) with this wing. But we notice an improvement in performance and we are optimistic that this will soon be reflected in the points.”
