Yuki Tsunoda: “I’m happy to be back in the Top 10 again after a long gap”

After securing just his fourth points finish of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship at the United States Grand Prix, Yuki Tsunoda has dedicated his tenth-place finish at the Circuit of the Americas to the memory of Red Bull co-owner Dietrich Mateschitz, after the Austrian passed away from a long-term illness on Saturday.

After making Qualifying Two and originally qualifying in fifteenth-place, a new gearbox installed on his ATO3 overnight would see the Japanese driver handed a five-place grid penalty for Sunday’s Grand Prix.

Now starting on the back row of the grid in nineteenth-place, Tsunoda was able to quickly put his grid penalty behind him as an impressive opening lap from the Scuderia AlphaTauri driver, saw him running in fourteenth-place by the end of the lap.

Tsunoda and AlphaTauri opted for a two-stop strategy which saw the Japanese driver head in for his first pit-stop onto another set of medium tyres on lap ten. After rejoining the grid in sixteenth-place, Tsunoda was able to enjoy a strong second stint of the race and was running in seventh-place by the time of his second and final pit-stop of the race. 

Switching onto the hard compound of tyre, Tsunoda’s strong race pace around the Circuit of the Americas was once again on show as the twenty-two year old driver was able to steadily rise up the grid.

Tsunoda would overtook Zhou Guanyu and Alex Albon in the latter stages of the race to place himself inside the points-paying positions, and while he originally came home for a tenth-place finish, the thirty-second time penalty awarded to Fernando Alonso after the race would see Tsunoda rise to a ninth-place finish.

Speaking after the race, Tsunoda spoke on his delight at finally snapping his unwanted streak of finishing outside the points in Austin.

“It was a really hard, but fun, race today and I’m happy to be back in the Top 10 again after a long gap. I’m glad that I could finish in the points this weekend and to honour the memory of Mr Mateschitz.

“The pace on the Mediums was really good, which we didn’t quite expect, and I was able to get some good overtakes in. We struggled a bit more on the Hards, which was a shame, so we need to go away and understand why this compound doesn’t work that well for us. Overall though, I’m pleased to be scoring points again and hope we can carry this on until the end of the season.”

Pierre Gasly: “It is a shame we had the penalties but for sure I wasn’t trying to be smart or gain any advantage”

While Tsunoda was left delighted with his race at the Circuit of the Americas, Pierre Gasly endured a nightmare day out on track as two time penalties would deny the Frenchmen any chance of finishing inside the points.

Gasly had been running in seventh-place shortly after Alonso and Lance Stroll’s crash on lap twenty-two but during the safety-car the stewards deemed Gasly to be falling more than ten car lengths behind the car in-front and was subsequently awarded a five-second time penalty.

The AlphaTauri driver would serve his five-second time penalty during his second pit-stop of the race as he switched to a fresher set of hard compound tyres but the stewards would once again be penalising Gasly as his AlphaTauri mechanics had lifted his car to serve the pit-stop before the five-second time penalty had been fully served.

The stewards would elect to hand Gasly a ten-second time penalty for his second offence and despite the Frenchmen’s best efforts to recover a points finish, he would fall just short and cross the finish line in eleventh-place. With the time penalty applied to Gasly’s time after the race, the AlphaTauri driver would officially come home for a thirteenth-place finish.

The time penalties came with extra frustration for Gasly as he felt his AT03’s race pace around the Circuit of the Americas would have been enough to take home a points finish.

“I was happy with the car in the race, the pace was strong from the start, and I had a lot of fun driving out there today. It is a shame we had the penalties but for sure I wasn’t trying to be smart or gain any advantage. There are referees that decide, it is unfortunate, but there are still plenty of positives to take from today.

“I was involved in many awesome battles and overtakes, which showed the car can be competitive, with points being possible. I am looking forward to the next few races, to see what we can do.”
 

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