Tsunoda speechless with Lawson after crash evaporated '1 second per lap gain'

After a P9 start, which transforemd into P8 with Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli losing four places on the opening lap, Tsunoda looked poised to continue the upward trend he's been showing since the Belgian Grand Prix-

However, after getting overtaken by the Italian rookie, the call came in from the pitwall that he should come in for fresh rubber. In doing so he was released at the back of the order, in the vicinity of Red Bull's sister team driver, Lawson, who, according to Tsunoda ,played a pivotal role in his race result.

Speaking to GPblog, the Japanese driver explained where his race went wrong.

"I got distracted by Lawson. [He] made contact [with me] and that was quite big enough to [damage my car]," he said. "I picked up damage and that was big enough to slow me down quite a lot so very frustrating and very unnecessary for me."

Revealing that the loss of downforce points in the wake of the incident with the New Zealander was quite substantial, Tsunoda then acknowledged that both teams owned by the same parent company, are 'enemies' and in particula the drivers pose the biggest competition for him individually.

But in the Japanese driver's mind there are certain lines that should not be crossed when fighting for position, and Lawson did just that, in his view.

"I don't know, if you're fighting for points there's room that I can understand [for hard racing]," he added. "Because even with our sister team, we're enemies, and especially this position where I'm sitting now, it's probably my most high competition out of anyone.

"I don't know what to say," concluded a dejected Tsunoda in the wake of yet another point-less Grand Prix weekend in his Red Bull tenure.