Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly shifted the blame towards each other following a collision in the 2025 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix, which ended the Alpine driver’s race.
The ex-team-mates came to blows on the approach to the Nouvelle chicane, as the Frenchman was forced to limp around the circuit and back to the pits.
Starting from 17th on the grid, Gasly found himself behind Tsunoda’s RB21 after the race start.
Both drivers had pitted under the Virtual Safety Car conditions brought out by Gabriel Bortoleto’s opening-lap incident with Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
However, as Gasly gained a good run on Tsunoda through the tunnel section and back out into the light, he was taken aback by the positioning of the Red Bull.
Unable to stop himself, he smashed into the rear of the car, before almost collecting his Alpine team-mate Franco Colapinto ahead.
Gasly carried on, due to a brake failure as a result of the collision, before coming to a stop in the pits, as Tsunoda carried on miraculously despite the heavy impact.
Afterwards, the 29-year-old accused Tsunoda of moving under braking, which he felt resulted in the accident.
“Yuki made a mistake before the tunnel, so I got very close to him, and every lap he was braking on the racing line on the right,” Gasly told media including Motorsport Week
“This lap, I was very close, so I decided to stay on the left.
“He started braking on the left, I committed to the right, and then he moved back onto the racing line, but I was already committing and braking later than him, so I just couldn’t go anywhere.”
Asked for his take, the Japanese driver insisted that he didn’t do anything wrong.
“It’s a big mystery; I didn’t do anything silly, moving under the braking or whatever,” he said.
“I don’t know what happened to be honest – I just remember, retrospectively, [Gasly] crashing into me.”
Gasly labels Tsunoda’s ‘idiot’ comment as ‘heat of the moment’
In the immediate aftermath of the collision, the Red Bull driver branded his fellow racer an “idiot”, a remark Gasly acknowledged as occurring in the heat of the moment.
What he couldn’t accept was the actions of Tsunoda on the track, as he continued to point the finger at Tsunoda’s behaviour under braking.
“I don’t really understand; on a braking zone, on a normal track, you don’t move, so once you hit the brake, you stick to where you are,” he added.
“He clearly jumped on the brake on the left side of the line and then went over the white line.
“I’m sure we’ll chat about it, but I don’t think it was his finest move.”
After being told that Gasly was unimpressed with his driving in Monaco, a stunned Tsunoda replied: “What? I mean, I don’t think I did anything wrong, to be honest.
“Yeah, I will do the same if I have one more time.
“Because I was hugging the wall the whole time.
“I knew which way I would take and I didn’t want to move under the braking.”
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