Tsunoda has only managed to score 25 points in the 19 race weekends he's been defending Red Bull's colours, which comes up to decisively less than two points per race on average.

With the Austrian team's count of 366 total points - which is good enough for P3 in the Constructors' Standings - Verstappen has ammased 341 points, nearly fourteen times more than the Japanese driver.

However, in Las Vegas, despite an wobble early in the session, where Verstappen eeked a gap of nearly eight tenths over Tsunoda, the former Racing Bulls driver managed to find his mojo again and moved up next to the Dutch driver, where he would remain for the large part of the first free practice session, even managing to beat him for the first time in their stint together as teammates at Red Bull.

Former F1 champion Jenson Button voiced hopes that Tsunoda could finally prove his worth "for his career" in Formula One.

"This is the first practice session for a long time that someone has been quicker than Max Verstappen in the same car," he noted.

"I hope it continues through this weekend and we see a good performance for Yuki, for his career in F1," Button concluded.

Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane says the announcement of the team’s 2026 F1 driver line-up has been delayed to maintain stability as both racing stables face intense battles from here all the way down to the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi. Read the full story here.

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