Yuki Tsunoda experiments come to light as Marko issues FP2 crash response

Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko has revealed that Yuki Tsunoda was experimenting with different setups prior to his FP2 crash at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

And he claimed the Japanese driver’s crash was simply “unlucky” after he crashed at the final corner after touching the inside barrier.

Yuki Tsunoda labels Saudi FP2 crash a ‘shame’

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Tsunoda issued an apology to the team in the aftermath of the incident, but it won’t be the outcome the Japanese driver was hoping.

Tsunoda is only kicking off his third grand prix weekend as part of the Red Bull Racing team, having taken over the seat from Liam Lawson.

Lawson’s demotion back to Racing Bulls came largely due to his inexperience, which made it difficult for the Kiwi to adapt to the extremely challenging RB21.

Thus far, Tsunoda has done well to ease into the seat and took home points for the team in Bahrain — something that Lawson had been unable to do.

Hopes were high for Tsunoda heading into this weekend; he told media on Thursday that he was growing more comfortable with the car all the time, and felt that he was adapting well.

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With under nine minutes on the clock in FP2, though, Tsunoda brushed against the inside wall at the final hairpin leading onto the main straight.

Knocked out of shape, the RB21 clattered right into the wall.

Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com after the session, Marko revealed that Tsunoda was experimenting with different setups during the qualifying simulations in FP2 as he tried to settle on a path for the rest of the weekend.

And he argued the driver was just unlucky with his session-ending incident, with the Red Bull adviser encouraged by Tsunoda’s pace after setting the sixth-fastest time of the session.

Marko said: “On the single lap, he was driving with a different setup on purpose to see which direction to go.

“I think that was unlucky he hit the wall on the inside, and then he was just a passenger. I hope it’s not too much damage. The speed is okay. The crash is unlucky.”

Tsunoda added: “Just turning too much and clipped the inside wall and just had damage.

“After that, just no control. Apologies to the team; pace was looking good, so it’s a shame.”

As far as the rest of the session went, Tsunoda noted that “the qualifying [simulation] lap was pretty good. A bit compromised with [tyre] warm up, but so far pretty OK.

“I had a limited time on the long run which I caused by myself [with the crash] so I can’t really complain. It’s not definitely not how I wanted to end up, that’s for sure.

“The short runs are okay, I just compromised a bit with the warm-up, so there’s a bit more [lap time] there.”

Lando Norris of McLaren ended the FP2 session at the top of the charts, 0.280 seconds clear of the non-fastest McLaren, which belonged to Tsunoda’s team-mate Max Verstappen.

Read next: Saudi Arabian GP: Norris edges Piastri in FP2 as Tsunoda crashes out for Red Bull