Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies reflects on Yuki Tsunoda‘s race weekend in Singapore. While Max Verstappen was able to climb the podium after the Grand Prix, his Japanese teammate could do no better than twelfth place. The driver had already complained about his opening round at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, and Mekies also labels the Japanese driver’s first few meters as ‘shocking’.
“The worst start I’ve ever had in my life,” is how Yuki Tsunoda described the opening phase of his Singapore GP. The Japanese driver was boxed in by Liam Lawson and Nico Hülkenberg, and overshot the first corner. Subsequently, the driver saw Franco Colapinto, Gabriel Bortoleto, and Lance Stroll pass him by. Tsunoda was able to fight back to a twelfth place in the rest of the race, but saw the chance of a valuable points finish evaporate.
Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies also saw Tsunoda’s struggles, which began on Saturday when the driver failed to advance beyond Q2 during qualifying. “It was already not a good Saturday for Yuki,” the Frenchman explains in Singapore. “To be honest, I was certainly satisfied with his work on Friday. It may not have looked spectacular in theory, but every round he was at the desired level. However, Saturday was not good, and we need to figure out what went wrong.”
‘Shocking’
For the opening round on Sunday, Mekies had no good words. “The first round was shocking,” the Frenchman does not mince words. “But after that, he drove a good race.”
