While the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris shot off into the distance in the 2025 Drivers Standings’, as well as the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, thanks to his recent surge, some drivers have had a fairly unfortunate journey over the past six months.
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli are two names that stick out in terms of struggling drivers, but Hamilton looked better in Austin, finishing fourth, while Antonelli is still only 19 and recently had his contract extended.
There is one driver on the grid whose time might be up thanks to the disparity between his performance and his teammate’s, while other drivers are eyeing his seat.
Ralf Schumacher says Yuki Tsunoda’s F1 career is ‘game over’
Tsunoda has spent almost half a decade in F1, but has still never scored a podium despite almost a full season at Red Bull. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Three seats in the Red Bull family are currently vacant, with Max Verstappen the only driver tied down to the Austrian company next season as of now.
While Yuki Tsunoda impressed in F1 in seasons prior, with his 12th-placed finish in 2024 in an underwhelming Racing Bulls car, his move up to Red Bull in 2025 has seen him pick up only six points-scoring weekends out of a total of 19 opportunities.
He is being beaten in the championship by the man tipped to replace him, Isack Hadjar, with the French youngster on 39 points compared to Tsunoda’s 28.
Ex-F1 great Ralf Schumacher had a damning verdict on Tsunoda’s Red Bull future in a recent podcast on the Sky Sport F1 Channel in Germany, saying:
“Yuki, it has to be said, is still on a rollercoaster ride… from my point of view, the decision has already been made… I think it’s game over, right? What’s the point of sticking with it now? Max is so much faster, and you could say, yes, he will always be faster than any of his teammates, but he has to have at least one who is a little closer to him in the car.”
Ralf Schumacher 
Gasly was only given 12 races at Red Bull before then being dropped back down to AlphaTauri (now known as RB). | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
If Tsunoda is not retained for 2026, it will mean that Daniil Kvyat, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, Sergio Pérez, Liam Lawson, and then Tsunoda will all have been dropped by the team in the past 10 years for poor performances.
Tsunoda’s path back to Racing Bulls is potentially blocked by F1 hopeful Arvid Lindblad, who has one sprint race and one feature race win in F2 so far this season and sits seventh in the championship. Lindblad, at 18, is seven years younger than Tsunoda and could be seen as a better option for the future.
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