The National Times - Red Bull's Tsunoda baffled after qualifying last in Spain

The Japanese driver had received support in his struggles from team boss Christian Horner on Friday, but on Saturday hit a new low that confirmed how challenging the car is for anyone other than the four-time world champion.

Last season, Sergio Perez experienced a series of problems and poor results which led to his exit and this year began with Liam Lawson in the second car, but for only two races.

Tsunoda was promoted from Red Bull's junior RB team but has struggled to shine and his best result is ninth in Bahrain.

He was 17th in Monaco last Sunday.

Apart from being outperformed comprehensively by Verstappen, the team's second drivers all appear to find the car very difficult to drive.

In the first qualifying session Tsunoda was eliminated after lapping more than half a second slower than Verstappen.

"It's pretty tough," he said.

"Throughout the weekend, I tried to solve the issue as much as possible. I was mentioning from FP1 (first practice) that I had some strange issue and that it was just not gripping at all.

He added that he had no feeling with the car.

"So far what I feel is just the car is eating its tyres a lot and every lap, whatever I do, I have degradation," he added.

Horner said: "We need to have a good look at it because I don't really understand it. Let's see if he's picked up some damage or something because it’s unusual to be that far off."

Tsunoda could be under pressure to keep his seat from RB rookie Isack Hadjar who has been in impressive form and finished sixth in Monaco.

L.Johnson--TNT