Yuki Tsunoda made Q3 in Jeddah but admits the RB21’s behaviour at the limit continues to puzzle him during qualifying.
Yuki Tsunoda bounced back from a crash in FP2 to secure a spot in Q3 at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix—but the Japanese driver left qualifying with mixed emotions.
Despite the solid recovery, Tsunoda was clearly frustrated after a messy final lap.
“It was okay getting into Q3, but that last lap was tough. I still struggle to put everything together at the end,” he said. “I’m not sure if it’s just lack of experience or something else, but the car starts doing things I can’t predict.”
Tsunoda admitted the RB21 is a bit of a mystery when pushed to the limit, making it difficult to extract full performance in qualifying.
Still, he’s cautiously optimistic about race day. The car setup is geared more toward long runs than outright qualifying pace—something that could work in his favor once the lights go out.
“Our setup is focused more on race pace than one-lap speed. In practice, the long runs looked better than the quali runs. I’m feeling a bit more confident going into the race, especially based on the FP2 data. But over one lap? Not ideal.”
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RB21 baffles Tsunoda: ‘It does things I can’t read’ RB21 baffles Tsunoda: ‘It does things I can’t read’
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