‘It is what it is’ says a dejected Tsunoda as he fails to score for second race in a row

Yuki Tsunoda was left to lament the timing of the Safety Car in the final phase of the Spanish Grand Prix, after the Japanese racer came home outside the points for a second consecutive race.

Scoring in Barcelona was always going to be difficult after Tsunoda qualified last on Saturday. The team opted to start him from the pit lane, making some suspension changes overnight they hoped would make the RB21 more competitive.

He was also the only driver to start the race on the medium compound tyre – but even that didn’t work out, Tsunoda pitting at much the same time as the soft-shod runners. He crawled home in 13th place, making up some positions but not enough to sneak into the points.

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“Well, the Safety Car didn’t help the timing, probably without that there was a potential to score points. It is what it is, [I had] pretty much the same car from FP1.

"The pace was alright but it is not the pace I’m looking [for] obviously, we are looking [for]. Yeah, it just didn’t improve at all," was his dejected take on the race.

Tsunoda pitted one lap before the Safety Car came out from 15th place, and thus saw some of his rivals jump him with their ‘cheap’ pit stops. Nonetheless, the highest he ran at any point on Sunday was P12, while his team mate was battling for the podium for much of the race.

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“A pit lane start is never ideal but we knew we would need to try something different for the race today to try and make up some ground,” Tsunoda added.

“We were trying out different things with the set-up; it didn’t do much in the end today, but we have an idea on how to hopefully improve this in Canada.

“We are not where we want to be, but we will keep working as a team and aim to remain consistent across a weekend.”

Tsunoda has now been at Red Bull for seven races, scoring three times, with a highest finish of ninth. In the same period, Verstappen has taken two wins and a further podium, highlighting the tough task Tsunoda has to try and get closer to his team mate.

Next up is Canada, meanwhile, a track where Tsunoda has never previously scored in three attempts.

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