Yuki Tsunoda ruefully said he “must send apologies” to his Red Bull team after a wretched weekend saw him finish last in the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix.
The Japanese driver was left as the sole driver for the Milton Keynes-based squad after Max Verstappen was taken out of contention on Lap 1 by Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
But any hopes pinned on Tsunoda to turn around the team’s fortunes were left unfounded, as he spent large chunks of the race battling with the Alpine of Franco Colapinto.
His fight for position with the Argentinian saw him punt the Alpine off at Turn 4, which earned him a 10-second time penalty.
The fruitless afternoon saw him come across the line as the last-placed driver still running, and two laps down on eventual winner Lando Norris.
“The pace itself was pretty poor,” Tsunoda told media including Motorsport Week. “I’m not sure what I’m doing completely wrong, to be honest.
“But the pace delta between the level I have to be in is massive. But at the same time, obviously, I’m working hard to find the reason what’s causing the issue.
“Even with seeing the data going through, it’s hard to find, even compared to the engineers, it’s really hard to find in terms of driving style difference with Max.
“Maybe I’ll have to find from a different kind of view, but for now, it’s hard to find the reasons, but I’ll have to find it anyway.”
Tsunoda pins issues down to ‘melting’ tyres
Despite missing out on Q2, Tsunoda’s lap was just two tenths down on Verstappen’s time in the opening session, the closest he has been to the Dutchman over one lap.
But although Verstappen’s DNF meant there was no marker for him, it was clear that Tsunoda was struggling in the RB21, and he put it down to difficulties managing his tyres.
“It’s not like the car is bad,” he explained. “But especially the first few laps, it feels amazing. The thing is, I feel like the tyre is just melting lap by lap, corner by corner.
“Whatever I do, it’s melting every lap, and I’m feeling less grip lap by lap.
“In that situation, it’s really hard to maintain the pace. I’ve tried multiple stops in this grand prix. It’s not working, really, so it’s hard to find the reasons.”
Tsunoda took full responsibility for his role in the collision with Colapinto, offering contrition to both him and the team.
“The collision with Franco is my bad, obviously,” he added. “The situation I was in, I think, was quite a poor move. I must send apologies to the team, how I ended up.”
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