Tsunoda insists gap to Verstappen ‘continues to close’ as he reveals car damage hindered progress in Hungary

Yuki Tsunoda insisted that the gap he has to Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen has continued "to close" as he revealed car damage played its part in a disappointing Hungarian Grand Prix result.

The Japanese racer was knocked out of the first stage of Qualifying at the Hungaroring in 16th place, with Red Bull opting to start him from the pit lane in Sunday's race after taking new power unit components. However, he was unable to make progress as damage picked up midway through the Grand Prix hampered his efforts on his way to a P17 result.

While Verstappen also had a disappointing race in finishing ninth, Tsunoda's result means he has not scored for seven races and he still has just three top-10 finishes in Grands Prix since joining Red Bull.

“We knew coming into today that it would be tricky to move up into the points, and once I had damage to the front wing our race was effectively over,” he explained following the Grand Prix at the Hungaroring.

“The gurney flap fell off halfway through and that cost us a lot of pace and worsening grip, so we then lost the ability to make a positive strategy call that would benefit us.”

That wasn’t the only thing to befall Tsunoda across the 70 laps of the Hungarian Grand Prix, with the Red Bull man alluding to another case of miscommunication, similar to that in Spa when he was left out one lap too long on the wrong tyres on a drying track, which cost him a shot at points in Belgium.

“Also, something we can improve a lot communication wise is that if I was fighting for the points, there was a situation that could cost quite big,” he added.

“It has happened the last two weeks, the last two races back-to-back in a row so it is starting to get very frustrating with that. Something we have to improve a lot and fight hard the second half.”

Despite the negatives, there are still positives for Tsunoda to take away heading into the summer break. For example, since he got his hands on the RB21 floor upgrade to make his car the same spec as Max Verstappen’s, his pace has improved – even if results do not reflect that at this stage.

“Looking back on the season so far, I can feel pretty positive, we've made progress, especially since the new floor upgrades were brought to Spa," he continued.

"The gap with Max continues to close, it may not feel like we are getting there but on paper we are only one tenth off his pace. I'm not sure many other drivers could get as close to him.

"I am heading straight to the factory tomorrow to go into the [simulator]. We need to investigate where we went wrong and put in some hard work over the summer break so that we don't start the next half of the season how we finished this one. It's frustrating but we will stay positive and bounce back stronger."

Tsunoda has scored 10 points this season – three with Racing Bulls and seven with Red Bull. His highest Grand Prix finish remains the ninth-place he managed in Bahrain, while he has two sixth-placed finishes in Sprints.