How did Tsunoda ended last on the Spanish GP grid?

An disconcerted Yuki Tsunoda said that he did not accumulate that his feeling in Formula 1 car from Red Bull translates in the last place in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, because he feels that he has made good progress … And suddenly, he falls like hell “.

Tsunoda was the slowest in the first quarter in Barcelona, ​​six tenths behind the teammate Max Verstappen despite the quadruple F1 world champion finishing only one race earlier in the session when the track was slower.

He continued a disappointing weekend during which Tsunoda has always looked like a long -term shot to be in the fight for the points, after being outside the Top 10 in FP2 then in the last training on Saturday, fighting while sliding on the two axles – which persisted in the qualifications.

Tsunoda said that something did not feel directly from its “first push” in the opening practice and that everything that Red Bull has “tried almost all configurations” since then, but could not “heal the basic limitation” of the front and rear shift.

“Until Monaco, I had good progress throughout and the last two sessions I corresponded or a little faster than Max, and suddenly, she falls like hell,” said Tsunoda.

“And whatever I do, each turn, even as a long race was a good example – everything I do, nothing happens. And I have the impression that this car eats tires like hell, having a degradation massively.

“It does not really accumulate. The basic limitation is still there, and I don’t know what it is, and I can’t really have an answer to that.”

The really curious thing after a second trimester outing in three races is the contrast between the result and the printing of Tsunoda of the way in which his weekend went inside the car.

“I am always convinced that we can at least assemble all of this in terms of automotive balance,” he said.

“The automotive balance itself is not bad, and at least my confidence was there. The qualifying tour in the two tires, especially the last push, was pretty good.

“This does not really accumulate with my result and the rhythm I have.”

There are attenuating factors to explain why Tsunoda has obtained such a bad result by qualifying in Spain.

It is on a slightly different specification from Verstappen because it is still missing the top floor, which is a consequence of the great crash that Tsunoda had in his first round in Q1 in Imola.

It is believed that the value of approximately a tenth of a second, although it is also part of a Red Bull push to take out a wider installation window on the car, so there could be a little more laptop derived from a better sensation on the two axles.

As Verstappen is both a world class driver and especially on Red Tricky bulls quickly, it is unlikely that Tsunoda – seven races in his Red Bull career after being parachuted to replace Liam Lawson in the third round in Japan – would be a few tenths of his teammate most of the time.

In addition, Spain has been particularly poor for the second Red Bull in recent years – Sergio Perez has been six tenths from Verstappen in the past two seasons before that.

Thus, a generous interpretation of Tsunoda’s performance is that it is at the worst end of the usual spectrum for the Verstappen teammate, without being completely a total disaster, and it is the extremely condensed field spread that has exaggerated how much it looks by transforming a deficit that would generally be correct for Q2 into an embarrassing 20th.

“In terms of positivity, I would say how I built throughout the week and how my communications and everything was one of the cleanest,” he said.

“And also my knees too, at least in terms of consistency, in terms of how I put everything together with each turn from FP1, also quite coherent. FP1, there was nothing like a massive error in my push round.

“Previously, I had several errors in the thrust tour, which gives an idea of ​​the reason why I was slow in certain sessions, but at least this week, my confidence was there, and consistency was there.

“It was positive, but it’s just a shame that it didn’t really follow this progression – at least in me.”

However, subject to Red Bull discovering an obvious problem – which did not happen, and team sources only said to the race that Tsunoda was outside this weekend for no clear reason – there could still be a large part of the time in the driving of Tsunoda.

He bled six tenths in Versetapn throughout the knees, and it is difficult to discern if it is the result of a lack of adhesion or simply a technique always lower, because the loss could be consistent with one or the other. However, there are certainly indices of overdoubment of Tsunoda.

We know that he is trying to drive like Verstappen, a method which, according to him, is crucial to get the most out of the car. Tsunoda told Viaplay to Monaco that to use the RB21 support force generates “you must drive gently and basically, you must drive like max”, the involvement being if you do not, you sacrifice the support force. But Red Bull believes that he needs to accept a slightly lower ceiling and to focus on driving more naturally.

By qualifying in Spain, Tsunoda was notably lower at high speed. He lost a tenth through the rapid Tour of Campsa Turn 10 in the middle sector and also had a large elevator in the last corner, struggling with high-speed underside. But in the final sector, he also showed signs of chasure too much because he knew that the tour moved away from him, leading him to brake too late and to waste even more time.

Tsunoda, however, did not really show an indication that he feels that it had something to do with that. He seemed upset by what – at least for him – felt like a very steep end to solid progress. And he does not think there is a moment in a Pitlan start and an aggressive configuration change for the race because Tsunoda thinks that this is not a configuration problem. It is something inherent in his car on this track.

“To be completely honest, this Grand Prix was, for me, really special,” said Tsunoda.

“Let’s see. But I think I did differently, at least until the Grands-Petits of the Price, and the team was on the same wavelength with me. The pace was really there.

“Monaco was a shame with the red flag (during the first round in the second quarter), but at least I showed a rhythm. I heard the team several times that this second pilot has been able to correspond to Max for a while. They were so happy.

“But this Grand Prix somehow falls massively for any reason, and I am unable to show my performance. What is a shame. This is something that for this Grand Prix that I feel is really, really strange.”