After Sunday’s F1 Miami GP, Yuki Tsunoda walked away with:
- A P10 finish in the Grand Prix
- A 5-second penalty for speeding in the pits
- P6 in the Sprint race
After what he called “a tricky weekend”, Tsunoda scored 1 point on Sunday, after a 5-second penalty forced him to fight extra hard to maintain his position in the points. He beat Isack Hadjar by less than 0.2s in the end after it was applied.
Along with a P6 finish at the Sprint race, Tsunoda says he’ll take given the circumstances.
“It’s alright. Obviously, P6 [in the Sprint] is not the place I wanted to finish,” Tsunoda admitted. “But I’ll take it for the Sprint race, especially with multiple penalties ahead.”
Yuki Tsunoda pointed out that the F1 Miami GP weekend wasn’t just a challenge for him individually, but a challenge for the team as a whole, including teammate Max Verstappen.
The four-time World Champion could only finish P4. He had the pace for P3 until a VSC intervention helped George Russell who started on hards. Nonetheless, they were miles off the McLarens.
“If you see Max as well, it’s not just me. As a team, we didn’t have the pace at all.”
However, Tsunoda remains optimistic, stating that his “confidence in the car is slowly building up.”
“I’m sure Max is already at the limit the car can handle — for me, there’s still a lot more I can unlock,” focusing on the potential to improve throughout the season.
Although he acknowledged that finishing P6 during the Sprint and P10 in the Grand Prix itself wasn’t ideal, the Japanese driver reflected on his progress and noted that this weekend marked a positive step forward on his side as he continues to learn the incredibly tricky RB21.
“Compared to the last three races, this was a better race week for sure. It was fairly clean, and I was pretty consistent at least.”
