Helmut Marko explains why Yuki Tsunoda was ‘extremely unhappy’ before his Monza crash

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The Italian Grand Prix weekend couldn’t have gone much worse for both Red Bull-backed teams.

Both Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo have previously won at Monza but that was never on the cards this year.

Instead, Red Bull were hoping that their rivals didn’t put too much of a dent in their Constructors’ Championship lead, while RB were hoping to catch up to their rivals in the midfield.

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Verstappen may be glad that not only did Charles Leclerc deny McLaren victory, but Oscar Piastri prevented Lando Norris from closing the gap to him any further in the driver’s standings by denying him second place.

Sergio Perez was much closer to his teammate than he has been for much of this season as Red Bull’s woes start to finally catch up to the triple-world champion.

Verstappen questioned whether Red Bull should have prepared a Monza-specific upgrade but another driver in the team’s roster may tell him that wasn’t the best idea.

Helmut Marko delivered his verdict on the race weekend speaking to Speedweek and highlighted just how serious the predicament is for both teams heading into the final third of the season.

Yuki Tsunoda has never enjoyed his visits to Monza in Formula 1 and that could once again be said after his latest outing.

He struggled in qualifying before having his race ended by a clumsy attempt at an overtake from Nico Hulkenberg.

It means the Japanese driver has only scored points twice in the last eight races.

Helmut Marko says Yuki Tsunoda was ‘extremely unhappy’ after Italian Grand Prix weekend

Tsunoda has failed to start the race on two of his four visits to Monza but at least took the grid on Sunday.

The odds were stacked against him as he only qualified 18^th and talking about why he and Ricciardo struggled so much, Marko said: “A word about the Racing Bulls in Monza: We had an update on Tsunoda’s car and Yuki was extremely unhappy with it.

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“He found the car more or less undrivable. The team left the improvements on the car anyway to find out where the advantages were and where the problems were.

“Then Tsunoda unfortunately had to retire after the collision with Hülkenberg.

Daniel Ricciardo did not serve a penalty correctly in the pits, so he received a ten-second penalty in addition to the first five seconds, and then of course you no longer have a chance of scoring points given the high level of competition.”

Yuki Tsunoda may learn who his 2025 teammate is before Azerbaijan Grand Prix

It’s understandable why Tsunoda is frustrated as RB have gone from regular points scorers to looking like an outside bet to finish in the top ten every weekend.

However, at least Tsunoda knows that he has a contract for 2025 unlike his teammate Ricciardo.

Ricciardo is the only driver in the Red Bull quartet without a deal for next year.

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Marko has promised Liam Lawson a race seat in 2025 which puts Ricciardo in an awkward position.

Ted Kravitz believes Ricciardo and Lawson could learn their fate before the Azerbaijan Grand Prix even though a switch isn’t expected to be made until the winter.

Time is running out for both drivers to find a seat away from the Red Bull group with Sauber the only team who have yet to complete their line-up for next season.