After a rather strong Q1, which had seen both RB drivers advance to the next qualifying segment very comfortably, Yuki Tsunoda crashed out at the end of Q2 while on a fast lap, while definitely looking to be in the running for a top ten spot.
The Japanese driver was thus unable to improve on his previous best timed lap, and will start the Mexican round from P11, right beside his teammate Liam Lawson.
The young driver in his fourth F1 season went into detail on what went wrong on that lap, mentioning an issue which had never occurred earlier in the weekend.
Replays showed the 24-year-old has a front left lock-up on the kerb as he tried to turn into T12. It was game over from that point as he lost the car.
“More like front lock-up initially, then front lock-up suddenly recovered and I lost control. Having a front lock-up it was already game over and there was no way I could make the corner.
“It’s a bit strange, I didn’t really push hard there and throughout the week I didn’t have any front lock-up in any lap in that corner.
“So I got surprised about that but nonetheless it’s a big shame that I wasn’t able to maximise this opportunity.”
Tsunoda admitted that his goal had been to start from the top 10 and ahead of the Haas duo, and he apologised to his team for the additional work to be done in order to get the car back and running for the main event later today.
“Definitely a shame, and of course I feel sorry for the team for sure. They are expecting a different result and we didn’t expect actually dropping out of Q2.
“On top of it, maybe the car damage is hopefully not too bad but we’ll see how the car looks like.”
Asked on the upgraded floor he was running with for the weekend, and whether is it actually an improvement from the one debuted in Austin, he says it gives less than a tenth, although that is big with how close the midfield is at present.
Tsunoda was rapid in practice: P3 in FP1 and FP2, and he backed it up with P7 in FP3.
“I think the floor is working. It’s not a massive step compared to, for example, the Austin one, the package that Liam is driving.
“We’re expecting less than seven, eight hundreths. But still it’s big enough with this kind of tight field.
“I feel good from FP1, and throughout the weekend I was flying.
“Definitely very disappointing.”
His sights are already set on points. The Japanese driver has not scored since Hungary as RB had fallen away in the development race recently.
With both cars on the sixth row, points are a genuine possibility if they can have a good first lap, and Tsunoda is hopeful both RBs can finish inside the top 10.
“I think so. We’ll see how my damage looks like first. Hopefully I don’t have to suffer penalties.
“Strategy, it won’t be easy, especially in traffic, with the high altitude, the car temperature and everything. But I’ll do my best as much as I can.
“I think the car pace is still there so hopefully I can maximise that with clean air or whatever.
“Never give up like in the previous race, where my teammate went from last to get into the points.”
“Anything can happen,” he concluded.
