"Nobody can deal with this Red Bull": Nico Rosberg's damning verdict after Yuki Tsunoda's shocking F1 Spanish GP Qualifying

Yuki Tsunoda is the third driver to have faced the wrath of Red Bull's second seat in the last 18 months as he qualified last for the Spanish Grand Prix. This led former F1 champion and Sky Sports F1 commentator, Nico Rosberg, on how the second RB21 has been a tough affair for any racer to tame, with Max Verstappen being the only driver who has been able to calm down the Red Bull.

After only two rounds of the 2025 F1 season, the hierarchy at the Austrian giant decided to sack Liam Lawson in favor of long-time Red Bull B-team driver, Tsunoda. Since then, the Japanese driver has had a considerable delta to Verstappen at the front, but has catered to the nooks and crannies better than his predecessors.

However, for the first time since the Chinese Grand Prix weekend, the second Red Bull driver qualified last for a Grand Prix weekend. This raised doubts about Yuki Tsunoda's capabilities, but 2016 F1 champion Nico Rosberg focused on how the second Red Bull seat has not been a tamed beast in anyone's hands else Max Verstappen during the Sky Sports broadcast of the race weekend:

"Look [Max] Verstappen is in a fight for [a] top-two position and [Yuki] Tsunoda is dead last in the Red Bull car. Can you believe it? And who can explain that to me that nobody can deal with this second Red Bull car."

The 25-year-old Red Bull driver has had a tough start to his career at the Milton Keynes-based squad.

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Yuki Tsunoda had a strong premonition about his torrid run during the Spanish Grand Prix weekend

Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda at the F1 Grand Prix of Spain - Source: Getty

Yuki Tsunoda joined Red Bull at the Japanese GP weekend. Though he was unable to score any points at his home race, he envisioned a better run in the upcoming races.

However, in the six races he has donned the navy blue suit, Tsunoda has only scored four points. With the pack being seemingly closer than ever and the new FIA directive coming into effect at the Spanish GP, the weekend was doomed to be a tough one for the Japanese driver.

Tsunoda posted a lap time less than a second slower than table-topper Oscar Piastri's lap time. Despite this, it was not enough. This fell in line with his premonition earlier in the weekend as the 25-year-old claimed he had been struggling around the 4.655-kilometer track, as he said (via Motorsport.com):

"To be honest, I just don't have any idea why I am slow. The lap was pretty good as well, considering FP2 and obviously it's not like fully 100%. But obviously it's not the gap that I'm expecting. So it's hard to even tell what kind of exact limitation I have in terms of balance, it's OK. We have to see what we can improve, but currently [I'm] struggling."

On the other hand, Tsunoda has scored 10 points in the eight Grand Prix weekends held so far.