Jenson Button fears Red Bull will ‘never’ win constructors’ title again after what he’s seen from Yuki Tsunoda

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Red Bull have won the F1 constructors’ championship six times, but Yuki Tsunoda has proven a trend that Jenson Button fears will stop the team from winning another title.

The Milton Keynes squad were the best in the business in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2022 and 2023. Red Bull are the sixth-most successful team in F1 history due to their six titles, as well, with only Ferrari (16), McLaren (10), Williams (9), Mercedes (8) and Lotus (7) boasting more.

But Red Bull will close the 2025 F1 season miles behind McLaren, who have already retained the constructors’ title. The Woking crew won the 2025 F1 constructors’ championship at the Singapore Grand Prix during 18 of this year’s 24 events, having left with a lead of 325 points.

Red Bull were unable to battle McLaren for the 2025 F1 constructors’ title, as they have had to rely on Max Verstappen for 341 of their 366 points this year. Tsunoda has only earned 25 points since his promotion from Racing Bulls to Red Bull to replace Liam Lawson this March.

Red Bull will ‘never’ win another constructors’ title with a No2 driver as far off Max Verstappen as Yuki Tsunoda

Now, Tsunoda is fighting Lawson for a 2026 seat at Racing Bulls, with Red Bull still to decide whether or not the Japanese pilot has a future in their stable ahead of his contract expiring. It is widely expected that Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar will replace Tsunoda at Red Bull in 2026.

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Tsunoda’s astonishing pace deficit to Verstappen at Red Bull also stands out to Button, who fears the Milton Keynes natives will never win the constructors’ championship again if their No2 driver is as far off the pace as the 25-year-old has been throughout the 2025 campaign.

Button told Sky Sports’ The F1 Show (21/11, 06:50): “I think, in terms of performance, most drivers who’ve been in that second seat have been so far off.

“[A gap of] three-tenths [of a second] is a lot in Formula 1 terms, but you’d kind of take that now looking at how competitive Max is and how he is kind of in another league. But it’s a lot more than that. It’s twice that, if not three times that sometimes.

“So, that’s the issue they have. They’re never going to win a constructors’ championship again if they have a driver who’s that far off Max. So, they need to keep searching.”

Yuki Tsunoda is on average 0.573s slower than Max Verstappen in qualifying

While Tsunoda advanced to Q3 during his two outings with Racing Bulls to start the 2025 F1 season before then replacing Lawson at Red Bull from round three, the Kanagawa native has only progressed to the top-10 shootout six times over his 19 outings for their main team yet.

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Tsunoda has also bowed out in Q1 during five Grand Prix qualifying sessions so far and in Q2 a further eight times. Verstappen qualified P16 for the Sao Paulo GP, but he started from the pit lane, as the four-time defending champion failed to reach Q3 for the first time all season.

A margin of 0.308s also separated the Red Bull racers in qualifying after Verstappen followed Tsunoda’s set-up in Brazil. It was the fourth-closest that Tsunoda has got to Verstappen in a Grand Prix qualifying session after Hungary (0.163s), Mexico (0.211s) and Austria (0.263s).

But Tsunoda’s average Grand Prix qualifying deficit to Verstappen as teammates at Red Bull ahead of the Las Vegas GP being 0.573s across the 18 sessions he has set a lap time strikes fear in Button. Tsunoda crashed in qualifying at Imola without recording a lap time during Q1.