AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda has pledged to “reset his mindset” after a collision with teammate Nyck de Vries forced him to retire from Saturday’s Baku Sprint race. Tsunoda had qualified eighth on the grid for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Friday but suffered a poor start to the weekend. He was unable to set a fast lap after being caught out by a red flag and finished the Sprint in P18. His race lasted just one lap after he understeered into the wall at Turn 14, causing damage to his front wing. He returned to the pits but was eventually forced to retire.
Tsunoda revealed that the collision with De Vries occurred during the opening lap of the race as they were battling for position at Turn 3. The incident resulted in damage to Tsunoda’s front wing, which was not immediately apparent to him. He continued to push but was unable to control his car on the high-speed section towards the end of the lap. The resulting damage forced AlphaTauri to incur a €5,000 fine for releasing the car in an unsafe condition.
Reflecting on the incident, Tsunoda stated: “He just didn’t leave me any space, and the front wing got damaged. I really didn’t recognise it and went flat out, which usually I do. I mean, I even released a little bit of throttle, but I couldn’t control it at all and went into the wall.” Despite the disappointment of the Sprint, Tsunoda remains optimistic for the Grand Prix on Sunday, where he hopes to put the incident behind him and focus on a strong result.
