Yuki Tsunoda’s already difficult early run of races with the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team took a turn for the worse in Imola when he had a huge crash on his first flying lap in qualifying.
Fortunately he escaped unscathed, and to his credit the Japanese driver took full responsibility for his mistake. He admitted that he’d “tried to be a hero” in Q1 and get through on a single set of tyres, and had been bitten.
Not only did he push to hard on the opening lap of qualifying, he did it in a car that had undergone significant set-up changes since a disappointing P3 session, and thus reacted differently on the limit.
“I’m just really stupid for myself pushing like that,” he said. “I mean, unnecessarily hard. We made a lot of changes to the car, so especially pushing like that hard without understanding enough about the car – just very unnecessary, pushing that hard in that early stages.”
He was adamant that he had some pace: “Turns 2 and 3 it felt quite good. Obviously, made a lot of changes to the car, but the pace was there until yesterday, just that P3 was P-nowhere, a complete mystery.”
It’s easy to assume that Tsunoda is feeling the pressure after scoring only six points across his first four weekends with the senior Red Bull team, including the Miami sprint. He denies that’s the case.
“I don’t think so. I think the team is supporting me enough to take off pressure as much as possible. I just tried to be a hero in Q1, which has been unnecessary, and aiming, I would say myself to be just to pass the Q1 with just one set.
“And also, I mean, I made a lot of change to the car, you don’t know much about the car, how the car is going to react in everything, high-speeds, medium-speed, slow-speed, and like that kind of corner, you need to build up, especially with a massive change.
“I had a confidence that I can handle it, but at the same time, to be honest – this is kind of really an excuse – but it’s just experience from the car, and just car changes and how the car reacts is bit unexpected.
“But I know what kind of reason that caused that kind of, I would say, balance into the corner.”
Tsunoda now faces a tough task from P20, with a pitlane start looking likely. It’s also not the sort of knock to his confidence that he needed ahead of Monaco. Can he turn things around in the coming races?
Adam Cooper F1 