Yuki Tsunoda rued a second successive Formula 1 weekend at the Chinese Grand Prix where strategy cost Racing Bulls vital points in the midfield battle.
Racing Bulls surprised many when it arrived in Australia with a highly capable midfield package, featuring in the top-10 throughout practice, qualifying, and the race until the team gambled on leaving Tsunoda out long on dry tyres amid a late-race shower.
In China, Tsunoda and team-mate Isack Hadjar were odds on for a double-points finish, but Racing Bulls stuck to a pre-race two-stop strategy, losing vital ground it couldn’t recover.
That was due to Racing Bulls’ rivals acknowledging tyre degradation wasn’t as bad as first feared, allowing for the one-stop to be the dominant strategy.
Racing Bulls walked away with nothing as Haas and Williams both took double-points finishes after both Ferraris and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly were disqualified.
“Yeah, very disappointed,” Tsunoda told select media, including Motorsport Week post-race.
“We’re losing so much points these two races. And in this kind of tight season, each point is very important. And we definitely have to maximise when we have the pace in the car.
“Last year I think we were able to achieve that in the first half of the season. And when we had a tough moment in the second half, we still had good points in the bag.
“So that’s why we were able to fight against P7 in the team championship. But now for me it’s just wasting the pace from the car and not able to maximise the performance.
“So we have to refocus and have to score points from the next races onwards.”
Tsunoda unclear about Racing Bulls strategy decision
Racing Bulls made a gamble with Tsunoda in Melbourne when the rain fell late on to keep the Japanese driver out on dry tyres in the hope the shower cleared quickly.
It proved to be the wrong choice on that occasion as Tsunoda fell out of the points, but the mistake was understandable.
However, with nobody around Racing Bulls committing to a two-stop, the team’s hand wasn’t forced, and its decision to two-stop seemed to be a clear and obvious error as it was made.
Speaking post-race, Tsunoda was keen to seek clarification.
“Maybe there’s room that I could have done better,” he said.
“Obviously, always as a driver, to give a hint about strategy or whatever. But I think last week, why we kind of did a bad decision in Melbourne is kind of clear what the reason is.
“But this race so far I’m not really clear. So I have to definitely talk with the team and avoid in the future. But it’s pretty frustrating, yeah.”
Team Principal Laurent Mekies rued post-race, “A frustrating Sunday here in Shanghai.
“It’s the second race in the row where we don’t come out with the points that we felt we could have had based on how fast the car and the drivers were this weekend; so for sure a lot of hard work ahead of us to improve in these areas to ensure we are stronger in the future.”
As it stands Racing Bulls is ninth in the Constructors’ Championship with three points, three behind nearest rival Sauber but 14 behind midfield frontrunner Williams.
READ MORE – Racing Bulls apologises to Yuki Tsunoda after F1 Australian GP blunder
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