Tsunoda bewildered by P20 in F1 Spanish GP qualifying after “pretty good” lap

Just under six tenths of a second separated Red Bull duo Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda in the first segment of qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix – but it was enough for the Japanese Formula 1 driver to be eliminated in last.

It was another miserable afternoon for Tsunoda, who said after Friday’s practice sessions “I have no idea why I am slow”. What was more baffling for him after qualifying was that he felt his laps had been cleaner – just still not fast.

During Q1 he asked the team to “check the floor” because he had ridden over the exit of Turn 13 quite aggressively, but it’s understood this did not actually cause any damage.

“I don’t think it’s the set-up,” said Tsunoda, who is set to start his seventh grand prix for Red Bull since moving from sister squad Racing Bulls. “Because to be honest, we tried almost every set-up.

“There’s obviously some preference here and there, but I think I’m still convinced that we’re able to at least put it all together in terms of the car balance. And like I said, the car balance itself is not bad, and at least also my confidence was there.

“The lap in qualifying in both [sets of] tyres, especially the last push, was pretty good, so it doesn’t really stack up with my results and with the pace that I’m having.”

Throughout the weekend Tsunoda has complained about his RB21 sliding across both axles and suggesting the car has a “core limitation” he has been unable to resolve through set-up changes.

He has also alluded to an inexplicable – for him – drop-off in performance during previous weekends.

“The last two grands prix, some sessions I was matching or a bit faster than Max and suddenly it drops like hell,” Tsunoda added.

“Even in the long runs [this weekend] was a good example. Whatever I do, nothing happens and it feels like this car is eating the tyres like hell, having degradation massively.

“It doesn’t really stack up and I think the core limitation is still there. I don’t know what it is and I can’t really have any answer for that.”

Tsunoda has not always been on the same aerodynamic spec as Verstappen since the team has naturally prioritised its world champion in terms of producing new parts. Verstappen got the latest floor in Miami, and a tranche of other small updates at Imola.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull Racing Team

Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images

Although Tsunoda received the new floor at Imola, Red Bull was vague about whether he had the other new parts – and the question was rendered moot when he crashed in qualifying there, requiring a new car to be built up around a spare ‘tub’ with older components, including the previous-spec floor.

It’s understood that Tsunoda is continuing to use that in Barcelona, though this is unlikely to account entirely for such a disparity in lap time and handling characteristics.

“The performance is disappointing,” Red Bull driver advisor Helmut Marko told Sky Germany. “On Friday he was relatively close to Max.

“And now in qualifying, nothing worked at all. And to finish last – even if the car isn’t entirely identical – is something we need to question internally.”

Isack Hadjar, Tsunoda’s team-mate at the start of the season, added: “Yuki is definitely worth more than a P20, that’s for sure.

“Of course, I don’t really know what he’s going through at the moment. Because I’ve never been on the other side of the garage. But yeah, he needs to keep pushing, I guess. He’s definitely not a P20 guy.”

Helmut Marko, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Cars experiencing sliding across both axles wasn’t a phenomenon exclusive to Tsunoda’s RB21. In Pirelli’s regular Friday afternoon briefing, chief engineer Simone Berra said low grip, and sliding front and rear, was relatively common – albeit on the hard-compound C1 tyre. For Tsunoda to be troubled by it on other compounds points to a more deep-seated problem.

Teams often set up cars with a slight understeer balance in order to protect the rear tyres from thermal degradation, especially at tracks such as Barcelona where there are corners requiring hard acceleration at the exit.

But that comes with harder trade-offs here since the fast corners place a lot of stress on the outside-front tyre, all the more so since the final chicane was removed for the 2023 race.

That introduces wear into the mix, on top of thermal degradation caused by the front axle sliding. Finding a sweet spot is hard and it seems Tsunoda is running out of possible set-up permutations to locate it.

“We did almost everything [on set-up],” he said. “Exactly the same, just four wheels sliding around. We have to discuss, but I can’t see what kind of set-up will make the game change.”