RB F1's Tsunoda Secures Q3 Slot

Tsunoda progresses to Q3 in Miami as Ricciardo encounters a surprising early elimination.

Yuki Tsunoda managed to reclaim strong form during the Miami Grand Prix qualifying. The RB F1 driver made it to Q3 and will start from tenth position tomorrow. He feels more satisfied with his car than his own performance.

“The team did a fantastic job, the car’s performance was good, I managed to reach Q3. I probably could have done better as I’m not proud of my lap, but the car helped me get to Q3. I’m happy to start from the top 10, it’s better than in the Sprint, and I will focus on the tires,” stated the Japanese driver.

“The pace today was good, but there were no other drivers on softs, except for a Williams, so it’s hard to say compared to the others. But Daniel finished fourth with the medium tires, which is good, and it’s promising. It will depend on me and how we can adjust the car.”

Ricciardo Caught in a Bad “Spiral”

For Daniel Ricciardo, Saturday afternoon brought a cold reality as he qualified 18th following a fourth-place finish in the Sprint. Due to a penalty received in China, he will start from the back of the grid tomorrow, but he isn’t overly dramatic about it.

“Our sport can change so quickly! Honestly, I saw Lando’s lap in SQ3 yesterday, where he was sliding right from the start on soft tires, and I had the same feeling today. Right from exiting turn 1, I started sliding, and it spiraled from there,” noted Ricciardo.

“But it’s odd that it started right at the beginning of the lap. That’s how it is, it’s something frustrating, but we’ll look into what happened because everything seemed to be going well before the lap. We just had no grip with the second set of tires, it’s as simple as that.”

The Australian is convinced he could have performed better and is puzzled by tires that were impossible to utilize: “I don’t think we have an 18th place car, and sometimes you need to understand why the tires behave the way they do.”

“I talked a bit with Lando yesterday but we didn’t go into detail about why these tires are bad from the start. I hope we can get an answer to this, but we are faster than what we’ve shown.”

“We have to see what the race holds for us, we have a penalty and so we will start at the back, it’s a contrast to this morning. I’m not happy but that’s how it is, and that’s why I told the team to enjoy this morning because this sport is unpredictable.”