Tsunoda feels he “didn’t help myself” after a frustrating weekend in Monaco

F1 Grand Prix, GP Monaco, Monte Carlo Circuit

Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda was left to rue his qualifying result from Saturday which meant that he was unable to show his true potential on a weekend when he felt comfortable in his RB21.

Although Red Bull came up with a host of strategy moves for Max Verstappen, the reigning champion finished from where he started the 78-lap Monaco Grand Prix.

The Dutchman qualified fifth, but he moved up the grid thank to a three-place grid penalty for Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen maintained his starting position at the start, and spent the majority on the race behind the trio of Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri.

However, Red Bull came up with an ambitious strategy that saw Verstappen play the long game. With fifth-place Hamilton having rejoined the track almost 40 seconds behind the race leader following his last pit stop, Verstappen stayed out on the Monte Carlo track until the penultimate lap.

The Dutchman led the race from Norris and Leclerc, and was waiting for a potential red flag period which would have handed him the race victory. However, there was no interruption in the closing stages of the race, and the four-time F1 champion was forced to complete his second and last tyre service on Lap 77, ending the race in fourth place.

Red Bull’s Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda started from P12 on the grid. Although he benefitted from an early virtual safety car interruption, tactical games saw him stuck in traffic.

Tsunoda ultimately finished outside the points, bringing his Monaco weekend to a disappointing end.

“It has been a frustrating weekend for me overall but there was nothing I could do much differently today, it’s down to me to be qualifying better,” started Tsunoda.

“For sure I didn’t help myself yesterday and I didn’t help my Team. If you Qualify that far behind, you can’t expect much to happen in your race here and you have created that situation.

The Japanese driver suffered a scary moment when his former team-mate Pierre Gasly crashed into the back of his Red Bull after the Frenchman lost his brakes. Although the Alpine racer was forced to retire with suspension damage, Tsunoda was able to continue with no apparent loss of performance.

“Not much happened in my race apart from Pierre crashing into me. I was stuck in a lot of traffic and it felt like the longest race ever. Monaco is not fun when you are just sitting or driving by yourself, you can’t create your rhythm when you are stuck behind people.

“I don’t feel like Monaco was too affected by the limitations to my car from Imola, the pace was alright and it felt good in FP3 and in Qualifying during Q1, I just wasn’t able to put it together overall. Hopefully next weekend I can put it all together and I need to do better overall."