Yuki Tsunoda admitted he misjudged his approach to qualifying at Imola after crashing on his first run of the session.
The damage to his car was so extensive Red Bull had to use a new survival cell and fit a replacement power unit. That forced Tsunoda to start yesterday’s race from the pit lane.From there he ran a single-stop strategy and salvaged one point for 10th place. Tsunoda said he was relieved to give his team some reward for their efforts.
“At least I’m happy that I gave something to the team for the amount of work they put in overnight, especially the mechanics, it was massive,” he told the official F1 channel. “So I [feel] okay that I at least gave something.
“But at the same time I was very frustrated still from last qualifying. I couldn’t really sleep much last night. Anyway, I have to move on and it is what it is.”
Tsunoda lapped within a tenth of a second of team mate Max Verstappen in practice on Friday, then fell over a second behind him in the final hour of running before qualifying on Sunday. Despite the sharp swing in performance, he said he felt confident before qualifying, but that proved his undoing.
“To be honest, the one-lap pace was pretty good,” he said. “Until FP2, especially, I was pretty close to Max.
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“In FP3 I didn’t have much opportunity to have many laps. So to be honest I had quite okay confidence into the qualifying.
“That made it even worse for myself that I probably made too [high] expectations of myself and tried to be hero in the first lap in Q1, which is really unnecessary. [With] those things I have to step back and really think about it and do better next time, for sure.”
Video: Tsunoda’s Imola crash
@minnashe Yuki Tsunoda Imola 2025. No puedo creer que justo estaba filmando. Se paralizaron las gradas por un minuto hasta que salio. Vivo y sano. Crack. #f1 #formula1 #yukitsunoda #imola #imolaf1 #f1imola #choque #redbull #capodelavida
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2025 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
- Antonelli was tiring from home race at Imola attention by Friday – Wolff
- Ferrari struggling to recreate set-up which “worked well” in Shanghai – Hamilton
- Verstappen told Red Bull to use Tsunoda before “hold him up” call
- ‘Saturdays have been mine for years but for some reason it’s drifted away’ – Norris
- “Plan C?”: Why McLaren only got their strategy right for one driver at Imola
baasbas
19th May 2025, 10:29
So the silly crash will effectively cost him 2 results?
Going to Monaco without confidence means he will start at the back
Coventry Climax
19th May 2025, 10:37
This is all very Perez-esque.
Sofar, putting Tsunoda in that car has not brought much else but Honda money.
When that contract is finished, Hadjar is probably next, but it likely won’t change the results.
debaser91
19th May 2025, 11:40
Yuki has made some rookie mistakes but he’s still been miles better than Checo was last year. Seemed like every other weekend that Checo didn’t get out of Q1 and then made absolutely zero progress in the races. At least Yuki has been going forward in the races, if he qualifies properly I’m sure he can regularly be in the top 6 and that’s all Red Bull really wants from him.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
19th May 2025, 12:54
If Perez had crashed in Q1 and started from the pits, there is no way he would have even tried to score a point like Yuki did.
BasCB (@bascb)
20th May 2025, 16:57
That is utter BS. What made it work for Tsunoda here was luck with the timing of the VSC, SC and the strategy, not something he himself did right or wrong.
RH
19th May 2025, 20:23
I think Hadjar is just quicker. He was with Yuki from the get go. Crashing is okay as long as you are pretty damn fast and Hadjar sure as hell is.
XM (@xmf1)
20th May 2025, 2:46
I would say the same except that I feel Hadjar would be better off with more experience for now. Otherwise he’ll flounder just as badly as Liam did.
Erkr
20th May 2025, 10:31
You do realise Tsunoda was always faster than Hadjar in the races…
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
19th May 2025, 11:59
Checo had given up trying to win last year, and he was being used soley for Max’s benefit. Yuki still believes he can win races, but for what eve reason, RBR give zero sucks about their number two driver period. And will continue to until they can win comfortably with their number 1 ever time by 30 seconds.
RBR should stop racing with two drivers, and stop pretending. But they wont’ because its another source of data for their number one priority.
Formula1 (@s2g-unit)
19th May 2025, 14:59
@pcxmac
What nonsense are you saying? The 2nd driver at all teams, evenat RB will get the full support from the team. Sports psychologists and full support from the engineering team. You think Yuki’s side of the garage doesn’t care what strategy they give him? What direction he takes the car setup? Of course not! They want to win also, they will try and help him as much as possible.
RB said last year that they failed at making a car that was more driveable, that would have allowed Checo to drive it more easily not just Max.
Max is amazing and is clearly able to tackle cars that are extremely difficult to drive.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
19th May 2025, 14:20
HAD in that seat after the break unless TSU can finish a few races in the top 5.
Jason Blankenship (@jblank)
19th May 2025, 17:30
I think that’s possible also.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
19th May 2025, 14:24
I have a question. How are the tires divvied up by the teams? Do the teams test the tires provided to them somehow? Does the #1 driver get the best sets of tires? And if an organization has 2 teams, does the #1 on the A team get the best sets from the entire lot of tires? Just wondering.
Grapmg
19th May 2025, 18:31
Googles answer
Pirelli’s system randomly groups the bar codes into blocks of four, comprising two rears and two fronts, which will make up a tyre set. This list of blocks is then sent to the (governing) FIA.
“The FIA subsequently allocates blocks of bar codes — and therefore sets of tyres — to each individual car at random,”
Grapmg
19th May 2025, 18:38
Funny the “don’t try this at home” warning below the video. Apparently Tsunoda is a professional. But happy Tsunoda walked away from it.
PeterG
19th May 2025, 19:35
I think Yuki’s pace had been pretty solid so far given how he didn’t have any time in the car until Suzuka FP1 and given how even Verstappen has said it’s a tricky car to get the most out of.
His pace has been generally better that what Perez was managing for most of last year and has been significantly better than what Lawson managed while in the car so from that perspective Yuki is clearly a step up.
As he figures the car out further over the next few races and as the car also takes some steps forward I wouldn’t be surprised to see him consistently fighting towards the front in the second half of the season because again the pace has been there for the most part.
Ajaxn
20th May 2025, 22:19
The trouble is Yuki is trying to match Max in a car which Red bull has already admitted is inferior to his team mate.
HC
19th May 2025, 20:46
This kid has been driving around Imola non-stop in the early days of his F1 career. I’d personally mute the public distraught and try Hadjar in the Red Bull for the second half of the season. I’d tell him this: You’ve done very well in your first races with Toro Rosso. We’d like to try you out in the big boy car after the summer break. If you don’t achieve results we’ll put you back in the junior team and we’ll make it abundantly clear what we’re doing to the outside world.
Erkr
20th May 2025, 10:33
That would be cruel to Hadjar. Let him thrive in VCARB
Ajaxn
20th May 2025, 22:16
Red Bull : ‘ Isn’t Yuki a little too close to Verstappen, we’d better reduce his down force’.
Yuki : ‘ but i made that corner the last time, why did the car do so again? I must have been too confident.
Ferdi
21st May 2025, 9:56
How many team mates are we at by now? 5? 6? I can’t wait to see RedBull without Max when it will turn out they are at the bottom of the mid-field at best.