Yuki Tsunoda saw his race end early after a turn 1 collision at the Saudi Arabian GP with Pierre Gasly, putting the pair out of the race, adding to a disappointing for Red Bull.
Following his crash in FP2, Yuki Tsunoda bounced back strongly after a good performance in qualifying saw him put the RB21 into eighth position, however, still over nine tenths behind his teammate Max Verstappen in pole position.
However, come Sunday night for the race, Tsunoda’s race ended quicker than it started, colliding with Gasly coming into turn 1, sending Gasly flying into the wall and leaving Tsunoda with a broken rear wing and the car “not safe to drive.”
Speaking to the media after the crash, Yuki Tsunoda commented on how it was neither his nor Gasly’s fault and just a racing incident at the Saudi Arabian GP.
“I mean, I can’t fully blame him, you know, it’s not like he turned into me completely at the same time. We knew that that’s the tightest corner in this track, and if you go side by side, based on our experience, we know what’s going to happen with the first lap and less grip. And obviously for myself, I was fully in control, it’s not like I was carrying a lot of speed and lost control.”
Tsunoda said he “did as much as I could to avoid it, but unfortunately it’s just the tightest corner in the track, less grip in the first lap. We should take our steps slightly more cautiously, I guess, on both sides, I think.”
Yuki Tsunoda taking the positives after a difficult Saudi Arabian GP
Yuki Tsunoda remarked on the positives coming from this weekend at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, saying he and the team are making good progress so far.
“It’s a shame that we still have a bit of up and down, and Q3 is a good example that I’ll be able to pull together again. It’s good to have good progress so far, and it’s positive at the same time. It’s quite a shame that I can’t really get any mileage from this race.”
“Every lap for me is important and still counts a lot, so it’s a shame for that, especially.”
