Shortly after the qualifying round kicked off at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Yuki Tsunoda’s race came to an abrupt halt.
The Red Bull driver veered off the race line and ended up in the loose gravel, causing the RB21 to flip over and crash into the barrier. This incident brought out the red flag, leading to a significant delay in the first quarter of the session.
It was quite a dramatic scene, to say the least.
Tsunoda managed to exit his car and walked away without needing assistance from the medical team. He was then taken to the care center for a precautionary check-up. After being cleared, he was allowed to speak to the media.
“Thankfully, I’m fine,” Tsunoda told the official F1 channel post-evaluation. “But it’s really frustrating how things turned out, especially at such an early stage and in pretty unnecessary circumstances.”
The Red Bull driver acknowledged that his performance has been inconsistent lately.
“It’s definitely been up and down,” he commented. “Some sessions feel alright, while in others, I suddenly lose a lot of pace.”
“In FP3, I felt like I was in a bit of a mystery. I wasn’t able to put everything together, and the pacing just felt off. I’m not quite sure why,” he added.
Tsunoda also referred to a “silly mistake” that cut his day short.
“We made several adjustments, and it felt pretty good initially, but then I crashed just a few turns in. It’s disappointing, really. The car seemed capable, and then I hit the wall due to such a careless error.”
Due to the crash, Tsunoda ended up qualifying 20th on the grid for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, meaning he will likely start from the pit lane.
