Yuki Tsunoda handed massive Canadian GP penalty as Red Bull nightmare continues

Canadian Grand Prix stewards threw the book as Yuki Tsunoda for breaking the rules during practice in Montreal as the Japanese racer’s Red Bull nightmare continues

Yuki Tsunoda has been handed a whopping 10-place grid penalty at the Canadian Grand Prix. That was his significant punishment after the stewards threw the book at the Japanese racer for breaking red flag rules during practice in Montreal.

Tsunoda was accused of overtaking Oscar Piastri on track during practice after the session had already been red-flagged. Such a move is seen as being dangerous and, after investigating what had happened, the stewards decided to give the Red Bull racer a significant punishment.

He has been given a 10-pace grid drop for the Canada race, meaning the very best qualifying position he could hope for was 11th. And two penalty points were also added to his racing licence, though they are the only ones he now has as his record on that front was previously clean.

Explaining their decision, the stewards said: “Car 81 [Piastri] had earlier collided with the barrier at the exit of turn 14 and damaged the rear right wheel and sustained a puncture and suspension damage. A red flag was displayed when Car 22 [Tsunoda] was at turn six.

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“Car 22 reduced speed at that point. After turn 12, Car 22 was approaching Car 81 on the back straight. The driver of Car 22 said that he saw Car 81 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.”

It is the latest blow to Tsunoda who has struggled since being promoted to drive for the top Red Bull team earlier this year. He was called up because he was more experienced than Liam Lawson who buckled under the pressure that comes with that seat.

But while Tsunoda has managed a handful of points, which is more than Lawson could achieve in his brief two-race spell, the Japanese has struggled with what has proven to be a very difficult Red Bull car to drive. He is the latest in a long line of team-mates to have found life alongside Max Verstappen extremely tough.

Verstappen has been able to use his ability to get the best out of the RB21 on a regular basis. But Tsunoda continues to struggle in his adaptation period from the more compliant car of sister team Racing Bulls and that has led to speculation over his long-term future with the outfit.