Tsunoda rues lack of grip in the first sector for Red Bull's dismal qualifying at Sao Paulo
Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda was left to rue a lack of grip in the first sector for Milton Keynes-based outfit's dismal result in the qualifying session for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen had a great initial start iin the Sao Paulo F1 Sprint to pick off Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and run fifth. Following the restart, he had to defend his position from the Spaniard, but managed to stay ahead.
However, the reigning champion was unable to close in on Mercedes driver George Russell, and had to content with a fourth place.
The Grand Prix qualifying saw Verstappen struggle for grip, and although he had time to complete two flying laps on a fresh set of softs in the dying moments of Q1, he did not manage to make it out of Q1.
His team-mate Yuki Tsunoda started the Sprint from the pit lane as Red Bull opted to test out a different downforce set-up. The Japanese driver was unable to gain any points in the 100km dash, and he ended up only 19th fastest in the main qualifying session.
Speaking of his qualifying day at Sao Paulo, Tsunoda said: "Today was a frustrating one. We had tried a different approach going into the Sprint to gain some important data for the Team before Qualifying. Starting from the pitlane made it difficult to make up many positions, but the data we took into Qualifying was valuable.
"Between the Sprint and Quali, we'd made changes to get ourselves in a better position. From my side of the garage it made a difference, I felt we made a step forward together."
Commenting on the tweaks Red Bull made to the setup of the RB21, Tsunoda added: "For Quali I felt better in the car, it solved some of the limitations that I was feeling in the Sprint but we then encountered another issue as a result of the changes.
"The lack of grip was a problem, especially in these conditions, where in sector one we just couldn't get the tyres going. It's frustrating to not have maximised on the positives changes we'd made. I'll start from the back, so I'll try my best tomorrow to overtake and move up the pack."
