Yuki Tsunoda deemed his crash in qualifying as “very unnecessary” as the Red Bull driver will start the 2025 Formula 1 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in last place.
Entering the Variante Villeneuve section of the Imola track, the Japanese driver took too much kerb as he lost the rear of his RB21, sending him into a spin and off the track.
Replays showed the severity of the crash, as the Red Bull car flipped before making contact with the tyre barriers, coming to a standstill, thankfully the right way up.
Having been cleared at the medical centre, Tsunoda admitted that in the media pen that he pushed too hard and felt frustrated with himself over the avoidable error.
“Yeah, I’m just really stupid… pushing like that,” Tsunoda told media including Motorsport Week.
“I mean, this is very hard and [we] made a lot of changes to the car.
“So, pushing that hard without understanding enough about the car and just… yeah.
“[It was] just very unnecessary, pushing that hard in the early stages.”
Despite a dramatic crash at the iconic Imola circuit, Tsunoda admitted his first emotions were “ashamed, disappointed, and frustrated” as he leapt out of his Red Bull.
On the other side of the garage, meanwhile, team-mate Max Verstappen secured another front-row start after qualifying narrowly behind the McLaren of Oscar Piastri.
Tsunoda apologises to Red Bull
Tsunoda has earned six points in his first four races since replacing Liam Lawson in the senior Red Bull team, including a 10th-place finish last time out in Miami.
Apart from a racing incident in Jeddah, which was a racing incident, the 25-year-old has managed to avoid major mistakes and kept his car out of the barriers.
However, following his sizeable shunt in Imola, he was left to apologise to his Red Bull crew for the extra work they now face ahead of Sunday’s 63-lap encounter.
“I haven’t talked with them yet, but the only thing I can do is apologise to them,” he added.
“Obviously, [the car] has big damage, so the mechanics have to do a lot of work.
“And hopefully the car will be ready tomorrow – but it’s very unnecessary for them.”
Tsunoda has scored points in his last two appearances at Imola with the sister Red Bull squad – a 10th-place finish in 2024 and a seventh-place finish in 2022.
Starting from the back of the grid, he faces a tough challenge to continue that streak in the race this year.
READ MORE – How Yuki Tsunoda has impressed Red Bull despite vast gap to Max Verstappen
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