Yuki Tsunoda and Oscar Piastri share their views of their late race incident during yesterday’s Mexico City Grand Prix, which was later deemed a racing incident upon review by the stewards.
A lap 49 collision between the charging AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda and the McLaren of Oscar Piastri brought to a close an intense battle for P7 as Tsunoda spun out at turn 1. Piastri had defended stoutly to that point with the two making contact similarly on the previous lap at turn 2, but avoiding a spin.
Following a review by the stewards following the event, the coming together on lap 48 as well as the lap 49 incident which cost Tsunoda a valuable haul of points were deemed racing incidents with no further action being taken.
“I already commented enough when I was driving.”
Speaking after the Grand Prix, it was clear to see Tsunoda’s frustration with the incident which saw him tumble down the order as he initially elected not to comment. The young Japanese driver was then pushed on the subject before implying that his rival may have deserved a penalty.
“I don’t want to comment about these things,” Tsunoda said after the Grand Prix. “I think I already commented enough when I was driving. The car’s pace was good, as we expected, we showed a good performance yesterday, so it’s a shame that I ended up like that.
“Without that I would have been P8, so the car was good, it shows the car was good.”
When informed that no action was taken following the Grand Prix, Tsunoda commented it was as I expected before implying that he believes a penalty would have been warranted for the incident, saying: “They love top teams, so that’s it.”
“Nothing really more than that.”
On the other side of the incident, Piastri commented that he was surprised by the incident, but didn’t see it as more than a racing incident. The McLaren driver also mentioned the damage he sustained from the incident which cost him pace in the closing stages of the Grand Prix.
“The one at the end, I’m not really sure what happened,” Piastri said. “For me I was just braking and then we touched wheels. So nothing really more than that.
“I think still an element of tyre management definitely,” he said of his pace deficit. “Of course the damage didn’t help and of course I was battling pretty hard with Yuki [Tsunoda] which didn’t help me either.
“There’s a few broken things. It’s visible.”
