Tsunoda: "My old team-mate did nothing to make my life easier"

Having received a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda conceded that he had to give it everything in the closing stages of the Miami Grand Prix to hold on to the last point-scoring position.

The reigning champion put in a brilliant effort in qualifying to secure pole position for the Miami Grand Prix. However, he had quickly indicated that he might be unable to fend off the McLarens on a track where thermal degradation usually plays a big role.

Verstappen was challenged by Lando Norris at the start, but he maintained the lead after a brutal fight through the opening two corners. However, he immediately found himself under pressure from Piastri, and while he held onto the lead for a few laps, he eventually out-braked himself and let the much quicker McLaren past.

Having lost the lead to Piastri, Verstappen had company again as Norris closed in on the Dutch driver. Although he defended hard against McLaren's British racer, Noris eventually got through. Verstappen then looked on for third, but got jumped by Mercedes driver George Russell as the Briton capitalized on the virtual safety car intervention which allowed him to shorten his time loss in the pit lane.

His team-mate Yuki Tsunoda started from P10 on the grid. The Japanese spent the first part of the race behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, but he picked up a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

However, he managed to put his foot down on the last few laps to pull a five-second gap to his former team-mate Isack Hadjar behind to make sure he held on to the last point.

Reflecting on his fourth race with Red Bull, Tsunoda noted: “It was unnecessary for me to be in that position with the time penalty and it made things a lot more difficult in the race for me and my old teammate certainly did nothing to make my life easier in those last few laps!

"Isack picked up the pace quite a lot, I was pushing a lot and he kept coming back. It was tough to keep the five second gap but I had to do what I had to do and I maximised the pace.

The Japanese driver continued: "I am happy I was able to score points but again, not happy with the pace I had. I think, as a Team, we struggled overall with race pace, it wasn’t just me and it is something we have to look at. I did all I could in this race.

"I gave the maximum that I can for now, it is tough to get the car in the place we want, but we will work towards it and make up for it in the future. I am feeling more confident in the car as the weeks go by and we will unlock it."