Karun Chandhok admits Max Verstappen has been ‘hamstrung’ by crucial Red Bull issue in 2025

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Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen produced arguably the best performance of the season at the 2025 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Only a handful of drivers have ever started a Grand Prix in the pit lane and finished on the podium, and Max Verstappen added his name to that list on Sunday.

Verstappen was eliminated from qualifying in the first session for the first time since 2021, and should have started 16th on the grid.

However, Red Bull decided to change Verstappen’s power unit, which forced him to start from the pit lane alongside Haas driver Esteban Ocon.

What happened next was extraordinary, but highlighted how good Verstappen is and why he’s still mathematically in contention to win the drivers’ championship despite Red Bull’s issues this year.

Lando Norris admitted he was disappointed that Verstappen was faster than him, as he went from the back of the grid to third by the time he reached the chequered flag.

Verstappen’s race could have gone even better had he not picked up a puncture during the safety car at the start of the race, which compromised his strategy.

Karun Chandhok and Jamie Chadwick were discussing Verstappen’s performance and highlighted one issue Red Bull haven’t been able to solve all season, which has hampered his championship efforts.

That’s the problem of the second Red Bull car not being at the required level to help Verstappen, and in this case, Yuki Tsunoda is being pinned with the blame.

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Max Verstappen ‘hamstrung’ at Red Bull by Yuki Tsunoda’s underperformance

Chandhok was reflecting on the race for Sky Sports F1 (9/11 7:31 pm) and he said: “This is where, just listening to Laurent speaking there. I got the sense, this is where they’re hamstrung by the fact that they’re a one-car team.

“If you came to a weekend like this where you only have one practice session and you got a few options in terms of packages and setups and updates to try, if you have two equal drivers, as McLaren do, you could put one on one car, one on the other car, and you can compare the data.

“The problem is when there’s such a gulf between the two drivers, as Red Bull have got, they can’t really trust whether the information is the driver or the car that’s creating this gap.

“So, this is where it’s really creating an issue for them. And I think it’s something to think about going forward, right, is next year, new rules, there are going to be updates all the time.

“They need two drivers. Otherwise, it’s their development; they will fall behind.”

Chadwick replied: “It’s exactly to Karun’s point. They used him as the guinea pig in the Sprint Race to know for qualifying.

“And clearly, they weren’t able to get the data or what they needed, going into qualifying, because then qualifying, both cars were nowhere.

“So, I completely agree, I think not only for just world championship constructors’ points, not only for the inter-team performance and morale, but also for car set-up and to help Max, they need someone in that car to be able to help them.”

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Tsunoda is one of three drivers currently on the grid without a contract for next season yet.

The 25-year-old was the slowest driver in qualifying, and after hitting Lance Stroll in the early stages of the race, picked up a 10-second penalty.

Team principal Laurent Mekies admitted that the team made an error while he was serving his penalty that earned him an additional reprimand, effectively ending his chances of a positive result.

Speaking after the race, Tsunoda said: “The whole weekend has been a difficult one for myself. We tried lots of things as a team, some of which worked and others that didn’t.

“I had a good start to the race on the hard tyre and made up a couple of positions before using the safety car to pit early. Unfortunately, there was contact with Lance, and I had to serve a penalty, which made it really tricky to have a positive result today. The extra pitstop also hurt us.

“I’m not throwing anything away, and in the last stint I showed good pace.”

The Japanese driver is now more than 300 points behind his teammate in the drivers’ championship and looks unlikely to beat either Racing Bulls driver in the standings.

Red Bull might have to say goodbye to Tsunoda for Verstappen’s sake, but whether his replacement, most likely to be Isack Hadjar, can do a better job is yet to be seen.