Yuki Tsunoda will start the sprint race in Austin from the eighteenth position, after a misunderstanding in the pit lane cost him his last chance for a fast lap. As a result, the Japanese driver was already in trouble in SQ1. Team boss Laurent Mekies has since apologized for the strategic blunder. For Yuki Tsunoda, this new setback comes at a bad time – his future within the Red Bull team is far from certain.
In the final phase of SQ1, Tsunoda found himself at the back of a long line of cars waiting at the exit of the pit lane. With only one minute and 45 seconds left on the clock, he was instructed to go to the start line for his last fast lap, but he failed to set a competitive time. After the race, the 25-year-old driver reacted visibly frustrated; he described the situation as ‘quite shocking’.
‘We must learn from this’
Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies took responsibility for the mistake and apologized to Tsunoda. “Our apologies to Yuki,” he told Sky Sports. “The schedule was a bit tight. We had to choose between staying out to let the tires cool down or returning to the pit box for a moment. We thought we would have enough time to go out again, but that turned out not to be the case. As a result, we missed the window to drive another lap.”
According to Mekies, the cause was incorrect timing, not a technical problem. “A few cars just had enough margin, but we missed out. That’s something we need to learn from.” Elsewhere in the Red Bull garage, there was reason to celebrate. Max Verstappen drove to pole position for the sprint race in his last lap – the Dutchman was 0.071 seconds faster than Lando Norris. “We knew it would be close,” said Mekies. “Lando drove a great lap and Max really had to give it his all. In the last sector, he steered the car perfectly through the corners and grabbed exactly those few tenths needed for pole.”
