Red Bull have floundered during the second half of the Formula 1 season and suffered a difficult day at the Mexico City Grand Prix. The Austrian team started the year superbly, winning the opening two rounds in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia before McLaren and Ferrari, in particular, began to improve. Red Bull are now third in the Constructors’ Championship with four rounds to go after a disastrous Mexico City Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen finished sixth after collecting two 10-second time penalties, while Sergio Perez was classified in 17th place. The Mexican driver is also under increasing pressure to keep his drive for next season, as Perez has consistently underperformed at Red Bull. Perez hasn’t stood on the podium since April’s Chinese Grand Prix, and he got knocked out in Q1 in Mexico in the middle of a lacklustre home round.

So, Damon Hill has now explained on the Sky Sports F1 Podcast that one driver in particular may be at a loss as to why he isn’t being considered for replacing Perez at Red Bull. Damon Hill thinks Yuki Tsunoda may be ‘wondering’ why he’s ‘overlooked’ by Red BullPhoto by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty ImagesYuki Tsunoda has improved significantly over his F1 career and has led the Visa Cash App RB team forward this year, while Daniel Ricciardo endured a difficult exit from the team. The Japanese driver was very consistent earlier in the season, scoring points and comfortably beating his Australian teammate.

Tsunoda suffered some bad luck at the Mexico City Grand Prix when involved in a Turn 1 collision with Alex Albon, which cost the Honda-backed talent the chance to score points. READ MORE: Guenther Steiner shares which driver he would replace Sergio Perez with immediately at Red BullHe has competed well against new teammate Liam Lawson, although the New Zealander is more closely linked to taking Perez’s seat at Red Bull. Hill believes that Tsunoda may be struggling to pin down why he isn’t a candidate for Red Bull despite improving on the track.

He said: “Yuki must be wondering why he’s overlooked. The fact is that Liam has arrived back from his enforced layoff, and he’s shown what he can do very quickly. ”Liam Lawson has impressively delivered during his brief spell in F1Lawson is more likely to step into the Red Bull team if he keeps performing and the Austrian outfit decide to drop Perez ahead of 2025.

The 22-year-old showed he can battle effectively in wheel-to-wheel combat last time out in Mexico, passing Perez during the race. He would be a risky signing as Lawson would be up against Verstappen and Red Bull would expect him to challenge for race wins at the sharp end of the field. Lawson also needs to continue improving and adapting to new circuits to convince Red Bull he can race at the front consistently.