Yuki Tsunoda believes a chance of ‘easy points’ were missed at Mexico City, after his strong start went unrewarded.
Qualifying P11 for the race but starting a place higher thanks to Carlos Sainz’s grid penalty, the Japanese driver gained a couple of positions on the first lap, before seeing his first stint extended, which allowed other drivers to undercut him and grab track position. Couple that with a frustratingly long pit stop, and the potential from his race was not realised.
Speaking to formula1.com post-race, Tsunoda said: “Today was easy points, we just threw it away. It is what it is, it’s still racing. The positive is the pace was pretty okay, so something to take. This kind of situation, missing out on points that were easy, and we could take P8, P7, I don’t know. Frustrating.”
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Tsunoda’s frustration was sympathised with by his team principal, Laurent Mekies: “It was very close in quali to Max [Verstappen]. I think it was two tenth in Q2. Today, the first stint was very, very strong as well.
“Then after, I think it’s on our side, we left him out a bit longer and we had a slightly long pit stop.”
With Max Verstappen finishing on the podium, it is hardly a flattering proposition for the second Red Bull driver to not be finishing inside the top ten, regardless of the reasons. And it does not do much, in Tsunoda’s favour, to justify continuing his stay with the Milton Keynes-based team heading into 2026.
However, Tsunoda must be showing some flashes of potential as Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko confirmed to Autosport that the second driver decision will now not be made until after the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Inevitably, that works in the 25-year-old’s favour as he has more time to demonstrate his credentials, while gaining yet more experience with a car that he has struggled to adapt to. And while it is far away from any sort of vote of confidence, it shows that Red Bull are more intrigued by their current second driver than his record shows.
The reality is that he needs to make another step if he is to still keep that seat for 2026. However, his team do not want to rush into a decision and feel as if there is more to come from their struggling driver.
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