In the closing laps of Sunday’s Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix, it seemed that Visa Cash App RB F1 Team was on the verge of a double-points result. Both Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda were running inside the top ten, and that result would have further solidified the team’s sixth-place position in the F1 Constructors’ Championship standings.
Then in a flash Tsunoda was in the grass, and outside of the points.
Following the race, Tsunoda apologized to the team in VCARB’s post-race report, calling it a “stupid” mistake while praising the team for their strategy on a complicated afternoon.
“Today was my mistake, a stupid move, and I’m sorry to the team. They definitely made the right decision about strategy and did a good job; it wasn’t easy on the old Inters but I was feeling okay. Also, the call when to change to dry [tires] was good,” said Tsunoda. “At least I turned it around from Free Practice to qualifying and that’s good, but today’s disappointing and not the way I should’ve finished the race. It was just about bringing it home.”
You can see the spin here:
The team still banked a pair of points, as Ricciardo came home eighth on the afternoon.
Team Principal Laurent Mekies found reason to praise both drivers in his post-race comments.
“The penalty for Daniel at the start, due to some very slight clutch dragging, and a couple of moments on track for Yuki cost us a few points but there are a lot of positives from this weekend: The drivers and the team are really working well together as a solid unit at the track, while back in the factory the efforts of our staff have been equally rewarding and indeed rewarded with both cars in Q3 yet again and points today,” began Mekies.
“Daniel spoke about the fact that Saturday was the tenth anniversary to the exact day of his very first F1 win which came at this track and it seems that he likes the place, as seen by his spectacular fifth place in quali and P8 in the race! Also on Saturday, we announced that Yuki is staying with us for another year,” continued Mekies. “It is well-deserved and it is also very good for him and us to know so early in the season that this matter is not something we have to think about anymore.
“Yuki also did a great recovery this weekend after a complicated Friday and would have deserved some good points too. We need to continue with our approach of small steps one after the other, in every single area,” concluded the VCARB boss. “It is moving us race after race towards better positions, and everyone in Faenza and in Bicester is pushing extremely hard to bring some more performance to our car.”
