Yuki Tsunoda secured the final point in the Miami Grand Prix, but it was a close call with Isack Hadjar potentially taking it due to a penalty incurred by the Red Bull driver. A few ‘mistakes’ in his final lap allowed his former teammate to come out on top. “Frustrating,” said the Racing Bulls driver.
Yuki Tsunoda received a five-second time penalty, which was applied to his final time after the race. Isack Hadjar, who was in eleventh place behind his former teammate, closed the gap within that margin, but had to give up time in the final lap and thus narrowly missed out on the points. “I knew it, I could see the delta on my steering wheel and I was really pushing in the car,” Hadjar told F1 TV. “But it wasn’t enough. In that last lap, I wanted too much to close the gap and as a result, I made a few mistakes here and there. It’s really frustrating. I feel a bit down.”
Afterwards, Tsunoda had kind words for the Frenchman. “My old teammate certainly didn’t make my life easy today,” he acknowledged. “In the last ten laps, he really picked up the pace. I pushed, but he got closer again, so it was really tough. But I just have to do what I have to do and maximize my own pace.”
Unnecessary
The stewards ruled that Tsunoda had exceeded the speed limit of 80 kilometers per hour in the pit lane by 5.6 kilometers per hour. “Of course, it was a bit unnecessary of me, that five-second time penalty made my life a lot harder,” Tsunoda admitted.
The Japanese driver is pleased with the points scored, but not with the pace he showed. The Red Bull driver crossed the finish line more than half a minute after teammate Max Verstappen and even conceded more than a minute to race winner Oscar Piastri. “I think as a team we struggled with the overall pace. Not just me, so that’s something we need to look at.”
