Yuki Tsunoda says he understands why RB told him to move aside for his team mate during last weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix despite his complaints at the time.
He was trying to pass Kevin Magnussen for 12th place towards the end of the race when the team told him to let their other car past. Tsunoda was running on hard tyres at the time but Daniel Ricciardo in the other RB was on softs.
Although he complained about the decision, Tsunoda complied. Ricciardo spent four laps trying to pass the Haas, without success.
Speaking in today’s FIA press conference Tsunoda said he understood the team’s call. “I think we were on a different strategy as Daniel.
“He had a new tyre – a soft tyre – and I was fighting with Kevin. Obviously he had slightly more free air and he had more pace. I think probably the team thought Daniel had more pace and so more chance to overtake Kevin, so they asked me to swap the positions.
“I understand what they’re saying and I think that’s it. Obviously it wasn’t an easy race in the end.”
Tsunoda almost caused a collision with his team mate on the cool-down lap after taking the chequered flag. He dived aggressively down the inside of Ricciardo at turn eight, locking up his brakes, then drove close to the other RB as they exited the corner. Ricciardo later described Tsunoda’s actions as “immaturity from him”.
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“In the moment I was a bit heated,” Tsunoda admitted. “I was getting quite heated moments in my brain. But I still let him through, probably a lap later or half a lap later. So in the end, the team thought they had more chance and I respect that.
“We talked about it after the race with our team. We’re still unified and we are on the same page now. We understand each other, so I think that’s it really.”
Despite the contentious end to the race, in which RB failed to score, Tsunoda says he took positives from the opening race weekend of the season.
“The pace was good, I’m pretty happy with the pace,” he said. “I think I was fighting for the top ten and we saw in qualifying as well we ended up quite close to P10 as well. So the car’s good.
“I enjoyed the first half. Obviously a lot of things to take from there as a positive, but obviously for the future as well.”
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2024 Bahrain Grand Prix
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