“Certainly shocking” first lap: Red Bull’s verdict of Yuki Tsunoda’s Singapore weekend

Red Bull Formula 1 team principal Laurent Mekies has delivered his assessment of Yuki Tsunoda’s Singapore Grand Prix, explaining that his first lap was “certainly shocking”.

The Japanese driver started the weekend at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, going ninth and 11th fastest in the first two practice sessions, which Mekies was happy with. But his weekend took a turn when he went 18th fastest in FP3 and qualified in 13th.

“Yeah, you’re right, let me say it was not a good Saturday for Yuki,” Mekies explained to the media. “I think honestly, on Friday, personally, I was satisfied with the work he has done on Friday. It was not looking spectacular on page one, but looking at every single lap, I think it was at the right level on Friday, then Saturday was poor, we need to work with him to understand what derailed it.”

During the race, Tsunoda found himself lapped by his team-mate, four-time champion Max Verstappen. While Verstappen secured the second step on the podium, Tsunoda crossed the line to finish 12th.

Tsunoda described his start, in which he dropped back to 18th, as ‘definitely the worst start or the first lap ever in my life’.

Mekies added: “Today, the first lap was certainly shocking, but from that point onward I think he has done a very decent race, I think he came back from P18 to P12 or P11, with a very decent pace. So we had a very poor Saturday, it’s costing us the weekend and a few points, and we’ll work with him to improve together.”

Tsunoda reflected on his race start in detail while speaking to the media. “It definitely was the worst start or the first lap ever in my life. I can’t still believe what happened in the first lap. Every place I tried to go, every corner in the first lap, I was literally covered or blocked by someone.

“I just didn’t have any space to go. I lost so much position in the first lap. It was definitely the worst start ever.

“I don’t know what I should have done there. I’m sure there’s something I could have done better. That for sure made my life very hard afterwards. To be honest, the pace was one of the best I’ve had in my Red Bull career so far. It’s a shame what I had there.”

Photos from Singapore GP – Race

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– The Motorsport.com Team