In the round-up: AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda said he was unaware how serious the damage to his front wing was after his first-lap contact with his team mate.
In brief
Tsunoda retired from the sprint race after suffering damage on the opening lap. He hit the wall hard at turn 13 but had already sustained damage to his front wing at turn three after a clash with Nyck de Vries, his team mate.
“De Vries hit me,” Tsunoda report on his radio after the contact. He told his team he needed to pit, then added, “what is he doing, honestly?” He then understeered into the wall.
“I just didn’t recognise fully that the front wing is really damaged and as soon as I entered, I just had no grip at all from the fronts,” Tsunoda said after the race. “I got forced to the wall from some driver and had contact with a driver and lost the front wing there.
Asked to identify who he believes was responsible for pushing him into the wall, Tsunoda replied: “I can’t say here.”
McLaren hopeful ill Piastri will recover
McLaren are hopeful Oscar Piastri will be in better shape for today’s race. The rookie driver is suffering with an illness this weekend.
“I think he’s going to be okay for tomorrow,” said team principal Andrea Stella after the sprint race. “But today, yesterday, the day before, it’s been a little bit of a struggle. So he’s actually doing very well, I would say.
“In terms of driving you wouldn’t be able to say from outside that the driver is actually not feeling very well. And also Oscar is impressive also in the way he deals with that, because he doesn’t want to show it even to us. He keeps his calm, keeps his bearing.
“We know that he’s struggling, so he’s doing well. But we are positive that for tomorrow he should be in a better situation.”
No need for late red flag after F2 crash – Bearman
Oliver Bearman believes the FIA were right to not show a red flag in the Formula 2 sprint race which finished under a Safety Car in Azerbaijan.
At the lap 18 Safety Car restart, six drivers retired from the race in collisions including race leaders Dennis Hauger and Victor Martins. The Safety Car was deployed in response and the race finished after 21 laps with the field still neutralised.
Bearman agreed with the decision not to red flag and restart the race, which F1 did following a late incident in the Australian Grand prix at the beginning of the month.
“Of course it was quite a big crash but I didn’t see the extent of it,” Bearman…
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