mconvertereu yuki tsunoda red bull racing t 4

Tsunoda gives reasons over terrible performance in Spanish GP Qualifying

18:08, 31 May

byTobia Elia

A day to forget for Yuki Tsunoda, with the Japanese driver finishing qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix in twentieth and last place, and therefore forced to start from the back of the grid in tomorrow’s race.

A pole position was certainly not expected from him, but the bitter elimination in Q1 in twentieth and last place is undoubtedly a harsh and difficult result to swallow for a lackluster Yuki Tsunoda, once again forced to end his qualifying session prematurely.

The Japanese driver, clearly struggling to fully exploit the potential of the RB21 (unlike his teammate), will be forced into yet another comeback race tomorrow, after already disappointing in the Monaco Grand Prix just a week ago.

When asked about his disappointing qualifying performance today, the former Racing Bulls driver commented: ''I don't think it's setup, because to be honest, we try almost every setup''.

''Obviously we try to sort the issues throughout the week, but especially when you're limited by overall grip, whenever we change setups, it just makes a bit of like plaster feeling. It's not able to cure the core limitation, which I had. So it's very shame''.

Not a great weekend so far for Tsunoda

Adding more details on his set-up deicision, Tsunoda said: ''There's obviously some preference there and there but I think I still convinced that we able to at least put it all together in terms of the car balance. And like I said, car balance itself is not bad and at least also my confidence was there''.

''The lap in qualifying in both tyres, especially last push was pretty good so it doesn't really stack up with my results and the pace I'm having''.

Asked if there is anything positive to be extracted from yesterday and today, Tsunoda finally concluded: ''In terms of positiveness, I'll say in terms of how I built throughout the week and how my combs and everything, One of the cleanest and also my lap as well. At least in terms of the consistency in terms of one lap, how I put it all together. Every lap since FP1, also pretty consistent as well. I think from FP1 there was not anything like massive mistake in my first lap''.

''I'll try my best tomorrow. Whatever I can do to be in top 10 I'll do. But the thing is, I don't think we're able to cure the core limitations since FP2, which was really lap by lap, just tyres degrading. So, with that said, it sense it will be tough realistically. Hopefully with a couple of setup changes it will be made a little bit better. But with that, let's see how it goes''.