Laurent Mekies discusses the unfortunate timing of the safety car for Tsunoda, as well as his throttle mapping issue during the F1 Dutch GP.
Since the Imola GP back in May, Yuki Tsunoda has endured a difficult run of races, walking away without points and often exiting in Q1 during qualifying. The Dutch GP, however, marked a step forward, as the Japanese driver came within 0.150s of reaching Q3.
That performance put him in a strong position to finally secure much-needed points. Yet, misfortune struck again when an untimely pit stop dropped Tsunoda down the order and left him stuck in traffic for much of the Dutch GP.
What happened during the race?
Tsunoda pitted early, switching from the soft tyres he had started on to a set of hards. However, the timing proved costly. Just moments later, Lewis Hamilton crashed his Ferrari into the wall after a light drizzle, triggering a safety car. As a result, Tsunoda missed the chance to pit under neutralised conditions, losing valuable track position and time in the process.
After the F1 Dutch GP, team principal Mekies explained that the safety car timing caught Tsunoda out and ultimately cost him several positions. The setback capped off what had otherwise been a promising weekend for the Red Bull driver, who continues to search for consistency in the second half of the season.
“Yuki was a bit unfortunate with the first safety car timing. Because one of the two cars was him and Charles, I think, that had pitted before. So he lost like four or five positions just because everybody got a cheap stop.
“But before that, he was in front of Antonelli. So if you look at the normal cycle, he would probably be around P7, end of the race. So he got a bit unfortunate there.
“Obviously there is not much you can say on the pace because he was probably glued in traffic for most of the race. We started him on soft as well. Same aggressive approach.
“But then we switched him on hard, having stopped a bit early.”
Was there a potential PU problem?
When asked whether Tsunoda faced a power unit problem during the F1 Dutch GP, Mekies firmly denied it. He explained that the team left the wrong throttle map on for the final stint after the pit stop, rather than the issue coming from the power unit itself.
According to the FIA 2025 Technical Regulations, throttle mapping and modes fall under strict rules, but the team did not adjust Tsunoda’s settings when he pitted, leaving him stuck with the wrong map for the remainder of the F1 Dutch GP.
“It was not a PU problem, just to make things clear. He didn’t have a PU problem.
“We were locked into the wrong map after the final stop. So I’m not going to bother you or bore you with the FIA regulations. But basically when you are in the pit lane, you are changing maps.
“And if you don’t change back, you are locked into it for the rest of the time. So that’s what happened.
“So he basically drove the final part with a really, really not friendly throttle map.”
A late race pass on Pierre Gasly saw Yuki Tsunoda eventually end up in P9, scoring two points.
