The Austrian GP is usually a great race for Red Bull Racing, but this year it was mostly struggles, especially for Yuki Tsunoda. In Q1 he was just 2,5 tenths behind team mate Max Verstappen, but given the short nature of the Red Bull Ring, this meant just an 18th position on the grid for Sunday.
In the race things went from bad to worse for the Japanese driver, as he had no pace. To make matters worse he also had a collision with Franco Colapinto, sending the Alpine driver into a spin. It costed Tsunoda a pit stop for a new nose and a 10 second time penalty for causing a collision.
Tsunoda accepts blame for Colapinto incident
Reflecting on the race, Tsunoda accepted all blame for the incident with Colapinto.
“The collision with Franco is my bad, obviously. [Given] the situation I was in, I think, [it] was quite a poor move. I must apologise to the team how I ended up.
“But at the same time, the pace itself was pretty poor as well. I’m not sure I’m doing completely wrong, to be honest, but the pace data between the level I have to be in is massive. But at the same time, I’m obviously working hard to find the reasons what is causing it, what’s the issue to cause it.”
Despite his best efforts, Tsunoda struggles to find an explanation for the poor Austrian GP performance.
“Even with the data going through, it’s hard to find,” he explains. “Even for best engineers, it’s really hard to find in terms of driving style [compared to] Max, maybe you have to find from a different kind of view. But for now, it’s hard to find the reasons, but I have to find them anyway.”
Verstappen’s early retirement spoils chance for comparison
Team leader Max Verstappen had a very short-lived race as a mistake from Andrea Kimi Antonelli took both out of the race. A missed opportunity according to Tsunoda, who would have loved to have some extra data.
“I was curious to see how Max was performing in this race,” he said. “But I’m sure he won’t be slow as much as that.
“Maybe consistent data, probably lap by lap, at least four tenths. I have to find at least something big causing this much of a difference.”
Tyre management biggest issue
Changing teams during a season always comes with some challenges, but on one-lap pace the Honda-protégé feels confident. However, in the race Tsunoda struggles with keeping the tyres alive, resulting in a very difficult Austrian GP.
“One-lap pace, I’m improving race by race, which is good. But when it comes to race, it’s always a different story. Literally, the tyre is not holding at all.”
Clearly lost for explanation, Tsunoda insists he has the support from Red Bull Racing, despite not receiving any updates this weekend.
“I don’t know, probably it’s worse than others,” he continued. “Maybe I’m doing it wrong. I have to find the reasons.
“When it comes to race [pace], it’s just really hard. There’s no grip. It’s positive that one-lap pace was okay in this race.
“I don’t know what’s going on with the race pace.”
