AlphaTauri driver was troubled by Perez: 'Cost me three tenths'

Yuki Tsunoda managed to reach Q3 again in Saudi Arabia, which obviously pleased him. Still, the Japanese driver is a little disappointed with his eighth place, because he is sure that a P7 would have been possible at the circuit of Jeddah. The rookie said he had problems with Sergio Perez.

At Motorsport-Total.com Tsunoda calculates that running into Perez on the asphalt cost him about three tenths. "I had to deal with traffic from [Sergio] Perez on my last lap, which cost me a lot of lap time. It's a shame because Q3 was really good. I was constantly in a good position and there was still room for improvement. But yes, eventually these things happen."

Tsunoda starts on mediums

He is not angry with the 31-year-old Mexican. Tsunoda is aware that it is very difficult to make space in Saudi Arabia for cars that are on a fast(er) run. He tries to look on the bright side of qualifying. For example, he managed to reach Q3 on the mediums. "I've never managed that before. That was really good", sounds an enthusiastic Tsunoda.

For AlphaTauri it will be very difficult to catch up with Alpine in the battle for fifth place among the constructors. The difference is 25 points with only two races to go. With Pierre Gasly (P6) and Tsunoda (P8) the Faenza based team does have a better starting position in Saudi Arabia than Alpine (P9 for Esteban Ocon and P13 for Fernando Alonso).