Tsunoda rues ‘poor communication’ after early Sprint Qualifying exit in Miami leaves him in P18

Yuki Tsunoda blamed “poor communication” after not having enough time to set a final lap during SQ1 of Sprint Qualifying in Miami, meaning that the Japanese driver exited the session early and will line up for Saturday’s Sprint in P18.

After the initial lap times went on the board in Friday’s session, Tsunoda found himself potentially at risk in the drop zone, meaning that his last effort would be crucial in determining whether he would progress into the next stage.

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However, the Red Bull driver did not make it to the line in time for his closing run. As he was running behind team mate Max Verstappen on track, the Dutchman slowed to enter the pits after realising that he did not need to set another lap himself, meaning that Tsunoda did not have enough time left to get to the line.

Asked what had happened during his first run of the session, Tsunoda cited traffic in the pit lane as he explained: “Some intelligent car just came out from [the] pit and [I had to] abort my lap. A lot of cars cost my lap quite a lot.

“First lap… yeah, to be honest that’s it. In the last corner I had quite a lock-up, but to be honest the lap was pretty gone already from Turn 1 because of the car at pit exit. Just [wasn’t] able to do a proper lap at all, so that’s it.”

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When pushed on whether he had been aware of how tight it would be to reach the line in time for his second run, the 24-year-old responded: “Yeah, I was but I just… what do you want me to do, because there’s a car in front.

“Communication is pretty poor as well and, just in general, I didn’t [do] a proper Qualifying.”

Given that he will now line up in P18 for the second Sprint of the campaign – and his first as a Red Bull driver – Tsunoda admitted that he may have his work cut out in making gains but that he will not give up.

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“It’s pretty far back,” he acknowledged. “I’ll try my best obviously, anything can happen at this track. I keep positive and I’ll do my best.”