‘Pace Wasn’t There’ for Tsunoda during Japanese Grand Prix as Home Points Chance Disappear

Yuki Tsunoda admitted to being disappointed not to have been able to score points in his first home Grand Prix, but he felt he did the best he could throughout the race at the Suzuka International Racing Course.

Heavy rain and aquaplaning meant a long red flag period during Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix, but on the restart, the Scuderia AlphaTauri driver was unable to find the pace necessary to fight for a place inside the top ten, and he was forced to settle for thirteenth at the chequered flag.

Nevertheless, Tsunoda said it was an ‘exciting’ weekend in his homeland, and he thanked everyone who came to the track and stuck it out during the red flag and in the rain.

“It’s been a difficult afternoon,” said Tsunoda.  “I obviously wanted to finish in the points, so it’s a real shame that I wasn’t able to make it today.

“I think that I did the best I could today and extracted the most from the car, but the pace just wasn’t there.

“The whole weekend here has been so exciting still, I’ve really enjoyed my first experience of driving an F1 car round my home track and I want to say a huge thank you to all the fans that have come out to support both myself and the team, especially in these rainy conditions today.

“Also, big congrats to Max [Verstappen] for winning the World Championship – it’s great that the Japanese fans have been able to witness that here today!”

“We wanted to try something different” – Pierre Gasly

Team-mate Pierre Gasly’s race unravelled even before the red flag, with the Frenchman suffering damage after hitting the advertising boarding that had gone onto the circuit following Carlos Sainz Jr.’s crash.

After his frustration with seeing a tractor on track whilst he was trying to catch up with the safety car, Gasly was at the back of the pack for the restart and was unable to make any gains as he ended down in seventeenth.

A post-race penalty for speeding under red flag conditions saw Gasly relegated to eighteenth in the final result, but it was just not the day he was hoping for on the weekend where his move to the BWT Alpine F1 Team for 2023 was confirmed.

The one silver lining for Gasly, however, was seeing former team-mate Max Verstappen clinching his second World Title in Japan, at the home venue for engine suppliers Honda.

“We wanted to try something different today, however it’s very difficult to overtake on this track and we tried our best, but at the end it didn’t really work out for us,” said Gasly.  “It’s a shame as it’s a special race weekend for us and Honda, but at the same time it’s great that Max has been able to win the Championship.

“He has been incredible, winning consistently, and has always been performing at his best and has got everything to be World Champion, so a massive congrats to him, to Red Bull and to Honda.

“It’s extra special to win the title here in Suzuka, so I’m really happy for them.”

Pierre Gasly collected an advertising board on the opening lap at Suzuka that had been brought onto the track by Carlos Sainz Jr. following his crash – Credit: Octane Photographic Ltd