Tsunoda still upset: "But you can't change it"

Yuki Tsunoda has been waiting for some time for some World Championship points, but in Spain, he finally seemed to be able to double his points total. However, the stewards threw a spanner in the works as they ruled that the Japanese driver was too fierce in a duel with Guanyu Zhou, and so he received a five-second time penalty. Tsunoda is still bitter about it and has since spoken to the FIA.

In the press conference, Tsunoda was asked if he learned from what happened and if he would approach a similar duel differently in the future. "I'm still upset with it, but you cannot change anything," he interjected. "In the end, that's what the FIA decided, and actually, we spoke this afternoon with the FIA and understand their perspective. Other than that, nothing to say."

The 23-year-old driver then frankly admits that he is unlikely to take a different approach in the future. "In the end, I will try as much as possible to defend within the limit. I thought it was in the limit, and it was not – but in the end, it was using too much, and you cannot defend, so I’ll try to change it a little bit. There’s room that I can improve in any situation. I feel, at the same time, a similar mindset after the race. I felt quite harsh, but in the end, it is what it is. And yeah, I just have to accept it," he said.

Qualifying must improve

In Canada, there is another chance for Tsunoda and AlphaTauri. Along with the forecast rain, the Japanese driver believes that there are possibilities of finishing in the top ten. "Especially race pace, we've been consistently positive this year. So I try to maximise that, and one of our limitations now is qualifying, trying to extract as much as possible, and end up in as high a position as possible to be slightly easier than starting P15 or whatever. That's our probable main challenge for this week."