‘Depressed’ Red Bull engineers couldn’t even look at Yuki Tsunoda as ’emergency’ Red Bull meeting emerges

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Yuki Tsunoda’s scoreless streak continued at the Belgian Grand Prix last weekend even though he qualified strongly. He lost six places after starting P7.

Tsunoda has now gone six races without notching a single point. This is the worst run by a Red Bull driver since David Coulthard endured a seven-race drought back in 2008.

In the Japanese driver’s defence, Laurent Mekies said Red Bull had hurt Tsunoda by calling him into the pits for dry tyres too late. Thus, his best qualifying performance for the team was squandered.

Tsunoda is fighting for his future in Formula 1, not just at Red Bull. His contract expires at the end of the 2025 season.

Red Bull social team ‘stopped recording’ Yuki Tsunoda when they saw emergency meeting taking place

According to Autosport Web, Tsunoda was told to go to the back of the Red Bull garage after carrying out his media interviews on Sunday. There, he found performance engineer Richard Cooke and race engineer Richard Wood, both of them looking ‘depressed’.

Neither of them could look ‘directly’ at Tsunoda before the ’emergency meeting’ took place. Red Bull social media staff ‘stopped recording’ the driver as they realised that important talks were unfolding.

• READ MORE: Yuki Tsunoda’s heart was warmed by what Laurent Mekies did in Red Bull garage at Belgian Grand Prix

The reporter witnessed the conversation from a vantage point on a staircase, and saw that Wood was doing most of the talking as Tsunoda listened silently. The atmosphere was likened to a ‘wake’.

It’s unclear what exactly was discussed, but the mood on Tsunoda’s side of the garage seems to be extremely low. Many of those working in that camp also saw Liam Lawson and latter-day Sergio Perez lose their way.

Nico Rosberg can’t wrap his head round ‘unreal’ Yuki Tsunoda stat

Cadillac would love to sign Tsunoda, but it looks as if the timings won’t align. They will likely lock in their drivers before the 25-year-old’s fate at Red Bull is confirmed.

Indeed, there are strong indications that Cadillac plan to sign Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, both of whom are currently available. That could leave Tsunoda without a seat if indeed he’s let go.

And that appears to be the likeliest outcome at the moment. With 13 out of 24 races gone, Tsunoda sits 17th in the standings.

2016 world champion Nico Rosberg says it’s ‘unreal’ that Tsunoda has scored just 10 points. While there are clearly some mitigating circumstances, not least the erratic handling of the RB21, that’s still below the standard the team would expect.