"I gave it my all": Yuki Tsunoda breaks down against Lando Norris and Max Verstappen loses the championship

At the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yuki tsunoda did not fulfill the mission assigned to him. In qualifying on Saturday, the Japanese driver provided a welcome tow for his teammate, who ultimately improved his best Q3 lap without outside assistance. On Sunday, Red Bull once again relied on Yuki Tsunoda to defend against the threat McLaren. By Max Verstappen At the top, Yuki Tsunoda simply needed to hold on Lando Norris at a distance from the podium, if the Briton found himself behind the Japanese driver, 10th on the grid, due to pit stops.

The opportunity arose on lap 24: Norris was starting to look threatening in the Red Bull's slipstream, having already quickly moved up through the field after his first pit stop. Tsunoda's attempts weren't enough to keep Norris behind, a far cry from Sergio Pérez's memorable defense in 2021 against... Lewis Hamilton on the same circuit. To the Japanese driver's credit, defending on worn tires against a McLaren on new tires was an impossible mission.

A penalty that complicates the race

Sloppy in his defense, Yuki Tsunoda made numerous changes of direction, forcing Lando Norris off the track on the straight leading to turn 5. These maneuvers, deemed dangerous by the stewards, earned him a five-second penalty. Lando Norris, for his part, was not penalized for overtaking outside track limits. I wanted to at least score some points, but I got a strange penalty again. Tsunoda regrets it. It's typical, you could say. I gave it my all, it was very difficult to keep up with the other cars. I had good pace at the start of the race, but I overheated the tires a lot, I struggled with that a lot during the race. »

With a tougher defense, could he have handed the title to Max Verstappen? To quote the Dutchman himself, " Yes, yes, yes… if my mother had…, it would be my father. "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride."

This Abu Dhabi Grand Prix marks Yuki Tsunoda's last race in Formula 1For a while at least. He remains with the team, however, in a test driver role. I really enjoyed spending time with the mechanics, and the support they gave me was phenomenal. At times they probably hated me because there was so much to change and fix overnight, setup changes between FP3 and Qualifying, but I told them yesterday that I'd given them a good workout; they're really precise now. number 22 is joking. I'm sure they like me. »

Yuki Tsunoda thus ends a grueling season on a bitter note, failing to finish in the points (14th). This year, especially in the second half, I don't like to use the word "luck" but I felt really unlucky; something happened at every Grand Prix. This weekend I had to go back to the old floor after an incident in the pits. (Kimi Antonelli collided with him in FP3 after being dangerously released by the mechanics) Classic Mercedes for sale(Editor's note), he laments. I also received a questionable penalty; I've never had a clean weekend. At least I gave it my all and showed what I'm capable of. »

Perhaps this will help him bounce back in 2027, within the Red Bull fold or elsewhere, like Alex Albon, returned home Williams after a year away from the paddock following his departure from Red Bull at the end of 2021.

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