Tsunoda takes positives from Imola recovery drive but admits he won’t try to be a ‘hero’ in next Qualifying sessions

Yuki Tsunoda was full of praise for the “massive” repair job carried out by his mechanics ahead of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, with the Japanese driver repaying their efforts in a recovery drive from the pit lane to the points.

Tsunoda triggered a red flag early in Saturday’s Qualifying session at Imola when he suffered an enormous accident that sent his Red Bull barrel rolling through the gravel trap and left it with damage to all four corners.

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While he was unharmed and cleared to race, Tsunoda’s crew had to work into the night to prepare his car for race day, with the extensive changes necessitating a pit lane start.

Tsunoda steadily worked his way up the order as the encounter progressed, with Virtual Safety Car and full Safety Car periods playing their part, and eventually crossed the line in 10th position thanks to Kimi Antonelli’s late retirement.

Asked if he felt pleased to rescue a point, Tsunoda said: “Yeah, at least I’m happy that I gave something to the team, especially with the amount of work they put [into repairing the car] overnight, the mechanics – it was massive.

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“I’m okay that I at least gave something, but at the same time it was very frustrating still from the last Qualifying… I couldn’t really sleep much last night. Anyway, I have to move on and it is what it is. I’m still okay that I gave something to the team.”

Tsunoda then explained how he plans to alter his approach in future Qualifying sessions – admitting to trying to be a Q1 “hero” after a solid start to the weekend, which saw him trail team mate Max Verstappen by just under a tenth in Friday practice.

“To be honest, the one-lap pace was pretty good,” he commented. “Until FP2 especially I was pretty close with Max, and in FP3 I didn’t have much opportunity to have any laps.

“I had a quite okay confidence [going] into the Qualifying, and that made it even worse with myself, that I probably made too much expectation to myself. I tried to be a hero in the first lap in Q1, which is really unnecessary.”

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He signed off: “It’s just those things that I have to step back and [have a] rethink about it, and do better next time, for sure.”