Red Bull Racing’s Yuki Tsunoda suffered a terrifying crash during Qualifying at the F1 Imola GP, flipping into the tyre barriers after losing control of his car. Speaking in the print-media zone after his scary high-speed crash, the Japanese driver took full responsibility for the incident—blaming himself for the unnecessary mistake that costed him heavily.
Since stepping up into the high-profiled second seat at Red Bull, Tsunoda has shown promising pace and performance in the car. However, the Japanese driver has struggled to find form this weekend in Imola. Tsunoda deemed the mistake “stupid”. Admitting he pushed unnecessarily hard without fully understanding the car’s behaviour, the 25 year-old acknowledged his aggressive approach.
“Yeah, I’m just really stupid for myself, pushing like that. I mean, unnecessarily hard and made a lot of changes in the car, so, you know, especially, you know, pushing, pushing like that hard without understanding enough about the car and just, yeah.”
“And just very unnecessary, pushing like that hard in the early stages, yeah.”
“Ashamed, disappointed, frustrated” – Tsunoda on his crash
Clearly disappointed, Tsunoda was at a loss for words.
“First thing I thought was just very ashamed, disappointed, frustrated,” the Japanese driver described the incident.
Red Bull mechanics faced a major repair job after the crash caused significant damage. By then, Tsunoda explained all he could do is apologise and hope the car will be ready for tomorrow—adding he had put himself scenario far from ideal.
“I haven’t talked with them yet, but the only thing I can do is apologise to them and just really, yeah. So I hope the car is not, obviously, had a big damage, so, I mean, mechanics have to do lots of work to do it until tomorrow, and hopefully the car will be ready [for] tomorrow, but it’s very unnecessary for them.
“For me, for myself, put in the wrong situation, yeah.”
Lost in FP3 after some pace in FP1 and FP2
Finding some pace in FP2 where he finished P8, the Japanese driver struggled to find some pace in FP3. Tsunoda explained to the media that some changes made to the car. However, he was just “nowhere” during the last practice session—describing it as a “mysterious” unknown.
“At least I could, I mean, turn 2, 3, it felt quite good, obviously made a lot of change in the car, but I mean, the pace was there, and yesterday, just at FP3, I was nowhere, but it’s a bit mysterious.”
The Imola GP marks Tsunoda’s fifth weekend with Red Bull. In a car publicly known to suiting reigning World Champion Max Verstappen’s driving style, Tsunoda said he is continuing to build momentum as he gains more mileage and familiarity in the car.
“I was, and I am, but, yeah,” he said.
Frustrated after stepping out of the car
After stepping out of the car unscathed, the Japanese driver was purely frustrated with himself.
“Pure frustration, just now, yeah,” Tsunoda added.
Since getting the call-up to the team at the Japanese GP, in place of Liam Lawson, all eyes have been in Tsunoda to match Verstappen. Could have the pressures of delivering results for the team got to him? Tsunoda denied.
“I don’t think so, I mean, I think the team is supporting me enough to take off pressure as much as possible.”
He admitted the mistake stemmed from the high standards he had set for himself, calling it a “trying to be a hero” move—as it would save an extra set of tyres if he did only one run during Q1. However, there were many more factors Tsunoda admitted he overlooked, which ultimately led to the crash.
“Yeah, I’m just trying to be a hero from Q1, which has been unnecessary, and aiming too much, aiming, I would say, myself to pass the Q1 with just one set [of tyres].
“Also, I mean, I made a lot of changes to the car, you know. You don’t know much about the car, how the car is going to react, and everything, high speed, medium speed, slow speed, and like that kind of corner, you need to build up, especially massive change.”
Moving forward, lessons have been learnt
In his fifth year in F1, Tsunoda knows he has the ability to deliver results. The Japanese driver admitted he misjudged the car’s balance heading into the corner, noting that it caught him off guard and called the crash truly “unacceptable”.
“I mean, I had confidence that I can handle it, but at the same time, yeah, it’s just a thing that, to be honest, it’s just kind of really an excuse, but it’s just an experience in the car, and just car changes and how the car reacts is a bit unexpected, but I know what kind of reason that caused that kind of, I would say, balance into the corner.
“Yeah, I mean, I’ve been five years in Formula 1, so, I mean, crashing Q1 is such a long time, obviously, but how I did it is, yeah, obviously, it’s not acceptable, yeah.”
