Yuki Tsunoda apologises after sprint contact with team-mate Arvid Lindblad

Yuki Tsunoda has apologised to his Racing Bulls team-mate for a collision at the start of the Dutch Grand Prix sprint race, which fortunately had minimal consequences.

Tsunoda has returned to Formula 1 this weekend as part of a driver shuffle after Isack Hadjar suffered a wrist fracture. Regular-season Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson was chosen to replace the Frenchman, and Tsunoda was drafted in from his holiday in Greece to fill the seat left vacant by the New Zealander.

After getting up to speed with the new era of F1 machinery swiftly, Tsunoda started in 12th place, one position behind Lindblad. But in a hurry to get around Turn 1, the Japanese driver was too quick to get on the throttle, and drove into the rear of his team-mate. 

"I was literally entering the corner like last year," said Tsunoda. "[I was] in the dark. I forgot there's less grip, and some day you have to I really forget, I have to be really careful, and I apologise to Arvid, 

"I tapped him, but I also was surprised that amount of people slowing down in Turn 1. It was a lot more than I expected, so, certainly I'll be careful because, again, Arvid's still in front of me tomorrow."

The moment, which was largely missed in the usual melee at the start of a Zandvoort race, had no lasting effect on the sprint race, which saw Lindblad take the flag in 10th place, and Tsunoda in 13th. 

As suggested by Tsunoda, the pair start in close company on Sunday, with Lindblad in 10th place, and Tsunoda directly behind in 12th place. 

Asked if he had felt the early contact, Lindblad said: "A tiny bit, yeah. 

"But I mean, it wasn't intentional at all. Immediately after the race, he came to apologise. I remembered it, but I didn't I forgot about it pretty quickly because it was so small. So, yeah, it's fine."