Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko gave his assessment of Yuki Tsunoda’s qualifying performance after the driver was eliminated in Q1.
Tsunoda finished in P18 after qualifying, as the Japanese driver couldn’t handle the hot and windy conditions on track.
Reacting to Tsunoda’s performance, Marko explained what happened to Tsunoda’s side of the garage during qualifying.
“With his first set, he [Tsunoda] was still somewhat within range. That would’ve even been enough for Q3. But with the changing conditions, Yuki just has a much harder time adapting. Max can drive over that,” Marko told reporters.
“But the main problem is that our car has too narrow a working window, and is also extremely edgy at the limit. You could see that clearly. When McLaren slides, the car corrects itself easily. With us, it’s always a tightrope walk between going off and just barely keeping it together.”
Tsunoda has struggled to control the RB21 after moving over from Racing Bulls – struggling like many of Max Verstappen’s teammates have throughout the years.
Out of desperation, Red Bull chose to swap Liam Lawson and Tsunoda following two underwhelming races by Lawson.
Tsunoda, who raced several years with the Red Bull junior team, came in with high expectations considering his experience in F1 and the pace he showed during his time behind the wheel.
Unfortunately, Tsunoda hasn’t done much better than Lawson since taking over. He often gets eliminated in Q1 or Q2, though he has managed to qualify in the top 10 a couple of times and score some points as well.
History at the Red Bull Ring indicates that there should be a safety car during the race.
It should give Tsunoda a window to work his way up the grid, but Tsunoda will need to find some consistency in the car – which has eluded him.
Austrian Grand Prix Qualifying results
- Lando Norris – McLaren
- Charles Leclerc – Ferrari
- Oscar Piastri – McLaren
- Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari
- George Russell – Mercedes
- Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls
- Max Verstappen – Red Bull
- Gabriel Bortoleto – Sauber
- Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes
- Pierre Gasly – Alpine
- Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin
- Alex Albon – Williams
- Isack Hadjar – Racing Bulls
- Franco Colapinto – Alpine
- Ollie Bearman – Haas
- Lance Stroll – Aston Martin
- Esteban Ocon – Haas
- Yuki Tsunoda – Red Bull
- Carlos Sainz – Williams
- Nico Hulkenberg – Sauber
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