Another difficult weekend for Yuki Tsunoda, who finished only 16th and last at the Austrian GP: here are the Japanese driver’s words.
Yuki Tsunoda ended the Austrian GP in 16th place, the last position. The Red Bull driver admitted finding it “really, really difficult” to understand the reasons behind his struggles with the RB21, especially compared to his teammate’s performance.
Qualifying had already been tough for Red Bull’s No. 22. Yuki Tsunoda was eliminated in Q1, securing only 18th on the grid. On Sunday, he had a difficult race during which he also received a 10-second penalty plus 2 super license points for causing a collision with Franco Colapinto. In the early laps, Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen collided, forcing both to retire, and the two Williams cars also retired due to technical issues shortly after. This helped Tsunoda gain positions, but he still struggled to overtake opponents.
Yuki Tsunoda’s statements
For the fourth race in a row, Yuki Tsunoda finished outside the points. After the Austrian GP, the Japanese driver reflected on his race, stating he does not know what he is doing wrong to perform this poorly.
The 25-year-old said: “Honestly, the move on Franco was a bit unnecessary. I probably could have waited another lap, but it was a rather wrong move for me.”
“For the rest, even the pace itself was quite poor, I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, to be honest.” He added, “I need to think more carefully. But honestly, it’s really, really hard to find why I’m making so many mistakes and driving so slowly.”
With the British GP coming up, Yuki Tsunoda was asked whether he will use the limited time available to better understand the car or take a break after this tough weekend.
The Japanese driver explained: “I will investigate more. I just need to dig deeper. If I can change my driving style or if I can adapt to something Max [Verstappen] is doing differently than me.”
“Whatever it is, I will try everything from left to right. And I will keep improving,” he concluded.
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