Yuki Tsunoda likens Red Bull struggles to ‘driving in F1 for the first time’

Yuki Tsunoda has compared his struggles at Red Bull to driving in F1 for the first time after another tough race at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Tsunoda finished last of the classified drivers at the Red Bull Ring following a tough afternoon.

The Japanese driver picked up a 10-second time penalty for colliding with Franco Colapainto and was forced into a front wing change as a result.

Tsunoda was the only driver to be lapped twice, finishing 16th at the end of the race.

It continues Tsunoda’s poor start to life at Red Bull, where he’s scored points just three times.

Reflecting on the race afterwards in Austria, Tsunoda said: “Honestly the pace itself is also very poor, as well.

“We are completely off from where I want to be, from the level I want to be at.

“It’s hard to believe I’m doing it completely wrong. But the pace difference between the competitors is big.

“I have to find what the reasons are. For now, it’s really difficult to find the reason.

“[I will] check the data. It’s hard to see what I’m doing wrong there, compared to Max.

“Maybe I have to find a different approach, a different view. The race pace is like the first time I’m driving in Formula 1! The delta is like that!

“It’s hard to believe I’m doing it wrong. I had a strong race at the beginning of the season with a different car.

“It’s the same car - a Formula 1 car - so I have to find what the reason is.”

Tsunoda takes blame for Colapinto clash

Yuki Tsunoda was happy to take responsibility for the clash with Colapinto.

He added: “It was my bad. Apologies to him. Massive apologies to the team as well, for how I ended up in the race. Unacceptable.”

Red Bull boss Christian Horner described it as a “horrible race” for Tsunoda.

“Yuki had a horrible race. It started to go wrong in Q1. His first run was fine, his second run he made a mistake, then qualified badly,” Horner explained.

“Then ran in traffic, unable to pass, then picked up a penalty. It compounds things.”