Tsunoda Beat Verstappen for 11 Laps. Then Red Bull Gave Up on Him.

Yuki Tsunoda ran ahead of his team leader for half this session before a strategy split abandoned him to P13. This wasn't a performance gap — it was a choice.

Yuki Tsunoda finished qualifying 11 places behind Max Verstappen. The consensus take: same story, different week — the junior driver gets walked by the senior.

Except Tsunoda was ahead of Verstappen for the first 11 laps of this session. Not stuck behind in traffic. Actually ahead. On track. Running the same strategy.

Key Finding

Tsunoda was faster than Verstappen on the same tyre until Red Bull stopped racing him like a contender.

Tsunoda led Verstappen on track for half the session

TSU vs VER — gap between them on every lap

The blue line is negative until Lap 11 — that means Verstappen was behind. Watch what happens after their fourth stops.

TSU aheadVER ahead

Final gap: TSU ahead by 17.4s.

Key Finding

Tsunoda was faster than Verstappen on the same tyre until Red Bull stopped racing him like a contender.

Let's be clear about what "ahead" means here. Not ahead on the timing screen because of pit cycles. Ahead on the road. Verstappen was chasing Tsunoda's gearbox from Lap 1 through Lap 11, both drivers running identical three-lap stints on soft tyres, both pitting on Laps 3, 6, 9, and 12.

Then Red Bull made a choice. Verstappen got two more stops — Laps 15 and 18 — to keep him on fresh rubber and pushing for the front. Tsunoda got nothing. Four stops total, done by Lap 12, left out on degraded softs while the leaders cycled through.

The result? Tsunoda qualified P13. Verstappen qualified P2. The gap between them: 1.013 seconds per lap. But that gap didn't exist when they were running the same programme.

Red Bull gave Verstappen six stops, Tsunoda four

TSU vs VER — tyre strategy across 22 laps

Both drivers ran identical soft tyre stints until Lap 12. Then Verstappen got two more — Tsunoda didn't.

TSU: S | VER: S

Key Finding

Tsunoda was faster than Verstappen on the same tyre until Red Bull stopped racing him like a contender.

Here's what makes this brutal: Tsunoda's degradation was actually better than Verstappen's while they were on the same strategy. Tsunoda lost 0.72 seconds per lap across his 12-lap soft stint. Verstappen lost 0.83 seconds per lap across his 18-lap stint. Tsunoda was managing the tyres more gently, staying ahead, doing everything right.

And Red Bull pulled the plug anyway.

Key Finding

Tsunoda was faster than Verstappen on the same tyre until Red Bull stopped racing him like a contender.

You can argue this was the right call. Verstappen is fighting for P2 in a championship we don't have the standings for. Tsunoda wasn't going to out-qualify George Russell with four stops. Fine.

But don't pretend the 1.013-second gap tells you anything about who was faster in Singapore. It tells you who Red Bull decided to race and who they decided to use as a test mule. Tsunoda ran Verstappen's pace for 11 laps on equal terms, then got strategically benched.

When Austin comes around, watch the first stint. If Tsunoda is within a second of Verstappen before the strategy split, you'll know exactly what happened here — and it wasn't a talent gap.

Nadia Ferreira

@@nadia_f_racing

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