The Canadian Grand Prix steward slapped Yuki Tsunoda with a 10-place grid penalty, dropping him to the back of the grid for the Montreal race due to his actions in practice
Yuki Tsunoda could not hide his fury after being handed a huge 10-place grid drop for the Canadian Grand Prix. The Japanese racer argued that he had a good reason for overtaking under red flags but the stewards in Montreal were having none of it.
Overtaking another car while red flags are flying, indicating that the session has been stopped, is a serious offence as it can be very dangerous. But Tsunoda felt he had a good reason for moving past Oscar Piastri on his way back to the pit lane.
The Aussie was the one who had caused the red flag after colliding with the ‘Wall of Champions’ during final practice. The impact showered the track with debris which prompted race control to stop the session so the shards of McLaren could be cleared away.
But while Piastri limped back to the garage, Tsunoda flew past him at speed which sparked an investigation. Pleading his case, the Red Bull driver said he saw that the McLaren was obviously damaged and that he felt it would be safer to move past.
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The stewards said: “The driver of Car 22 [Tsunoda] said that he saw Car 81 [Piastri] travelling slowly on the left side of the track with obvious damage. “He said that he was worried that he might be struck by debris from Car 81 and decided to overtake. Telemetry showed that Car 81 was travelling at 86kph when Car 22 overtook at a speed of 171kph.
“Having considered the matter extensively, the Stewards determined that while Car 81 had an obvious problem, it was not travelling at such a speed that it prevented Car 22 from following it at a safe distance. The circumstances were such that there was no justifiable reason for the driver of Car 22 to have overtaken Car 81.”
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And so Tsunoda was slapped with a penalty which meant, because he had only managed to qualify 11th, he would be relegated to the very back of the grid. And that punishment he felt was far too harsh. I’m not really sure I deserve that penalty because I don’t know what they want me to do,” the frustrated 25-year-old said.
“Oscar had massive damage, spreading debris all over the place, from the last corner through to the end of the lap. He was driving 80 kilometres per hour on the back straight and he did a good job of avoiding a collision with other drivers. I saw Oscar was driving far left, and I understand that under the red flag, you can’t overtake. But waiting for Oscar to pit, behind a damaged car, is just waiting for debris to hit me.
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“I saw the tyre was going sideways and I thought the tyre was going to fly away, so I went far right. I checked the car in front of Oscar, the car behind me, making sure there was no one. I went the opposite way to overtake him, with a sensible speed of 170 kilometres per hour, half the speed of what we normally drive, and I got a penalty.
“Ten places is ridiculous for me. I don’t know what they want me to do. Apparently, they wanted me to stay behind Oscar, not to overtake. But for me, I’m hoping that debris won’t hit me. I don’t understand this, especially the car having damage, driving very slow. I don’t think I deserve this 10 place [penalty].”