Yuki Tsunoda converted a 12th place starting position into his first points finish since Imola, coming home 9th at the F1 Dutch GP. A forceful late move on Pierre Gasly was critical to him getting a buffer in the closing laps with his issue.
It was a strong effort but Tsunoda conceded, “I’m not sure what I can do better than that.”
“I feel like everything that was there was against me. The first safety car didn’t help at all, and second safety car as well. Also, the people I was fighting with, they ended up P5 and P6. Even the last stage, I was about to try and make up positions and I had those kind of issues.”
Tsunoda, Red Bull has to power through power unit mishap
Those issues in particular centered on an engine issue that came up during the second safety car period, after Charles Leclerc crashed on lap 53. Tsunoda complained of a loss of power: “at some point the safety car was faster than my car,” he said after the race. He was told his throttle was only responding above 40 percent, and did as well as he could to manage the situation.
“The team did a fantastic job to minimise damage. And obviously, it went much better, but still there was something in the car that lost a lot of performance. And still I was in P11, so yeah, it was a good execution for me.”
The situation stabilized, the car was in the right place at the right time
Tsunoda then inherited points as Lando Norris retired with eight laps left, and then passed Pierre Gasly for 9th coming out of the safety car period as his Alpine’s tyres gave out after gambling on a one-stop strategy.
All in all Tsunoda saw the weekend as a good step forward for him and his team. “It was not even easy to even score points today, so to be honest, normally P9 you don’t feel special, but I think it’s something that gives me confidence for the future.”
