Yuki Tsuonda collided with the wall during second practice at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in just his third race weekend at Red Bull.
Tsunoda replaced Liam Lawson after just two race weekends, with the Kiwi driver being demoted back down to Red Bull’s sister team – RB.
In his two races as Max Verstappen’s team-mate, Tsunoda has been out-performed twice, finishing P12 in his home race at Suzuka and P9 last time out in Bahrain.
While his performances have been better than Lawson’s, who was nowhere near the points in his first two grands prix and singular sprint race outing in China, Tsuonda has hardly rocked the boat at Red Bull.
And he endured a tough start to the weekend at Jeddah, having wrecked his car on Friday.
On entry into the final corner, the 24-year-old clipped the inside of the wall, causing his front-left tyre to dislodge.
Yuki Tsuonda collided with the wall during second practice at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
His RB21 was totalled after his front-left tyre was dislodged and he lost control of the car
Tsuonda replaced Liam Lawson in the Red Bull seat after just two race weekends in 2025
Tsuonda was then powerless as his RB21 was destined to clobber into the wall on the exit, bringing out a red flag with five minutes to go in second practice.
The Japanese driver walked away from the scene unharmed, as the collision came at a low speed, but the same could not be said for his car.
Debris from his Red Bull was scattered across the track, meaning FP2 was stopped and could not restart in time.
Tsunoda recorded the seventh-fastest time in the session before his blunder, with McLaren’s Lando Norris topping the time sheets.
Verstappen was third, almost three tenths behind Norris but four tenths ahead of Tsuonda in the opposite garage.
In the build-up to practice in Jeddah, Tsunoda sensationally claimed that he could beat his team-mate – four-time world champion Verstappen.
Tsunoda told RacingNews365: ‘It’s my first time driving a completely different car – I only drove with VCARB for the last four years, so it’s the first time I drove a completely different team’s car.
‘I’m trying to use that, and I know that if I unlock that area, I would be able to probably beat [Verstappen].
Tsuonda claimed earlier this week he has the ability to beat his team-mate Max Verstappen
‘I know myself that I can’t beat him straight away, so I’m just trying to build a good baseline and wait for the moment that I can be in the [best] shape.’
Red Bull have been way off where they would like to be this season – which is up there alongside constructors’ championship leaders McLaren.
However, Verstappen has put in a predictably valiant showing in the drivers’ championship, sitting third and trailing Norris in first by just eight points.
Unless the Milton Keynes-based team are headed in the right direction with their car development, Verstappen’s hopes of a record-equalling fifth straight drivers’ championship will be slim.