Yuki Tsunoda was left clearly furious after a disappointing end to his final qualifying session as a Red Bull racer. For the most part, it was a strong session for the Japanese driver who has struggled for one-lap pace often this season, but that was not the case at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as Tsunoda joined team-mate Max Verstappen in the top 10 shootout for pole position.
He was already struggling for performance, having been forced to revert to an older-spec floor after a collision with Kimi Antonelli during final practice earlier in the day. And he was compromised further by his team making the understandable decision to use their second driver to give title-chasing Verstappen a tow down the longest straight of the Yas Marina Circuit to help him in his bid for pole position.
He did eventually get one single lap to try and bag himself a better starting spot, but it ended in vain. The one flying lap he did complete ended up being deleted by race control because of a track limits infringement, meaning he will start Sunday’s race 10th.
And Tsunoda, who said earlier this week that he was “p****d off” to learn that he has lost his seat on the 2026 grid to Isack Hadjar, cut a frustrated figure after climbing out of his car. The ring of protective padding, which he had removed in order to get out of the Red Bull having parked in parc ferme, was not very delicately replaced.
In his frustration, footage from the camera mounted above the cockpit on his car showed Tsunoda simply tossing it back into the halo before walking away, his helmet still on.
But speaking in the media pen after that display of discontent, Tsunoda suggested he was pleased to have simply made it into the top 10. He said: “After that Antonelli collision, I had to revert back to the old floor which, to be honest, cost my performance into qualifying. So I kind of expected it would be difficult to get through [to] Q3.”
Once his place in the final part of the session was confirmed, it was obvious what Red Bull were going to do next. The Japanese continued: “Obviously, going through [to] Q3 and helping Max was the baseline plan. But, at the same time, I was a little bit worried about that, with that spec. But I ultimately made it through.
“It was very stressful, to be honest. But at least I was able to do it, and they gave me some compliments. I’ll take it.” One of those positive comments came from Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko who heaped praise upon the Japanese for his role in Verstappen’s qualifying success, telling German-language TV: “Yuki was incredible – the slipstream worked perfectly.”
And even though he is starting a few places lower than he would have liked, Tsunoda knows that his primary job again on Sunday is to do whatever he can to assist his team-mate’s title challenge. He said: “I’ll do as much as I can to help him. Most likely, it would probably compromise my strategy but, with his position, how he ended up, there’s still a chance to get a championship. So, I’ll do as much as I can.”