More bad luck for AlphaTauri: fine for unsafe release Tsunoda

AlphaTauri is already not having a great weekend and the FIA has added to that. The organisation has fined the Italian team for sending Yuki Tsunoda back onto the track while his AT04 was "in an unsafe condition".

Tsunoda had a fine day yesterday and even managed to reach Q3, but today things did not go as well for the Japanese driver. Logan Sargeant's crash in the first part of the new sprint shootout prevented the AlphaTauri driver from improving, eliminating Tsunoda in SQ1.

Also sprint disappointing for Tsunoda

The sprint was also soon over for Nyck de Vries' teammate. On the first lap, Tsunoda hit the wall hard in turn 13. As a result, the Japanese driver damaged his rear right wheel. Tsunoda was then able to reach the pits and was then sent back onto the track by his team, which in hindsight was not a smart move by AlphaTauri.

The contact with the wall so hard that the rear right suspension was also broken. This forced Tsunoda to steer considerably to the left on the straight to go straight. The FIA disapproved AlphaTauri's action, stating that AlphaTauri had sent Tsunoda onto the track with an "unsafe car". The FIA fined the Italian team €5,000 for this.