Yuki Tsunoda apologised for the “silly mistake” after crashing out in Q1 during qualifying at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Saturday.
The Japanese driver will start at the back of the grid at Imola, after losing the rear of his AlphaTauri through the Variante Alta chicane and clattering rear-first into the tyre barrier.
Certainly, this weekend has been more difficult for Tsunoda after his strong performance in Bahrain, but he was feeling comfortable in the moments before his off.
“Yeah just pushing too much at entry, to be honest,” he explained. “Until then the lap felt great, actually. I think that potentially it was easy to go through Q1 with one tyre. Just I was too excited.
“For me, that was a silly mistake, so I feel really sorry for the team. You have to reset today, and just drive the race tomorrow.”
With the rear wing and crash structure heavily damaged, Tsunoda’s car may also need a new gearbox at least, and he conceded his AlphaTauri mechanics likely face a late night.
“For me, at the moment I don’t have any pain or anything like that,” he added. “I feel more worried about the car than me. It looked pretty bad actually when I saw the back.
“I really hope the car is repaired properly tomorrow. Just feel sorry for the team today.”
Also Read:
- Tsunoda ‘definitely’ a future F1 champion but Red Bull won’t ‘burn’ him
- Tsunoda not afraid to make ‘inevitable’ mistakes during rookie F1 year
In Bahrain, the 20-year-old was able to recover well from a poor start to finish in the points in P9. But with overtaking much tougher at Imola, Tsunoda is hoping the weather could intervene.
“Tomorrow is going to be maybe different conditions,” he noted. “Rain. Try to help me a bit, anything. So just really put it all together and don’t do mistakes like today. I think it will be a bit of a different view.
“Also it’s going to be different conditions, so I just have to adapt to the conditions tomorrow, and push until the end.”