Red Bull’s driver Yuki Tsunoda had a few complications during Sprint Qualifying at the 2025 Miami GP, where he finished P18. As Tsunoda was eliminated after SQ1, he felt disappointed with the communication. Speaking to the media, Tsunoda explains the problems that have prevented him from making further progress.
First run – Obstacles in Sprint Qualifying
As Tsunoda finished his lap, Oliver Bearman unfortunately exited the pit, hindering his performance. Speaking after the session, the Japanese driver rued the incident.
“Some intelligent car just came out from [the] pit and [I had to] abort my lap. A lot of cars cost my lap quite a lot.
“First lap… yeah, to be honest that’s it. In the last corner I had quite a lock-up,”, he explained
“But to be honest the lap was pretty gone already from Turn 1 because of the car at pit exit. Just [wasn’t] able to do a proper lap at all, so that’s it.”
Second run – not finishing in time
Near the end of SQ1 Red Bull’s Max Verstappen slowed in front of Tsunoda to enter the pits, preventing Tsunoda from reaching the line in time and cancelling his lap time.
“Yeah, I was but I just… what do you want me to do, because there’s a car in front.
“Communication is pretty poor as well and, just in general, I didn’t [do] a proper Qualifying.”
Tsunoda, who will start from P18 in the second sprint of the season and his first with Red Bull, admitted that he may struggle to improve his position but is determined to keep going.
“It’s pretty far back,” he acknowledged. “I’ll try my best obviously, anything can happen at this track. I keep positive and I’ll do my best.”
Yuki Tsunoda was not the only disappointed driver with the traffic in the pit lane during Sprint Qualifying. Alpine’s rookie, Doohan, who starts the Sprint on P19, was furious with the team’s mess-up in the pit traffic.
