11/04/2025 21:00
Yuki Tsunoda labelled the start to his Bahrain Grand Prix weekend
as "pretty messy" whilst bemoaning "miscommunication" at Red Bull
which cost him lap time. The Japanese driver finished the opening
practice session ninth fastest, just under 1.3 seconds off Lando
Norris in first, before slumping to P18 in the second hour of
running. With team-mate Max Verstappen back in the RB21 for FP2
after Tsunoda's compatriot Ayumu Iwasa deputised in FP1, the
24-year-old found himself just under seven tenths adrift of the
Dutchman who was seventh quickest at the Bahrain International
Circuit. Tsunoda explained he is still struggling to optimise the
lines of communication between himself and the Red Bull pit wall.
"Bit of learning, I guess," Tsunoda said when talking through his
second free practice session in Sakhir. "It's a bit different, the
set up between the cars, to see how the performance looks like.
"But also, just this session was pretty messy overall, being able
to put it all together. There was a lot of miscommunication between
our side of the garage, on the radio, for example. "That's part of
the learning process, because it's still the fifth session from the
when I jumped in [to the Red Bull], but was obviously not the
finest session." Tsunoda's bleak qualifying warning Despite the
difficulties, Tsunoda is hoping to continue to improve and mesh
with his new team. However, although he is "optimistic", he warned
it will be difficult to reach Q3 in qualifying. "I hope it'll be
better," the Japanese driver said when asked about the grid-setting
session and the grand prix on Sunday. "[It] has to be better than
this. "I'm sure we're gonna change a lot of things. For now, the
team is struggling, but at the same time, I know a lot will come
from cleaner operations and everything. "So that's kind of freed up
time, so I'm still feeling optimistic. But, yeah, it will be hard
for now to go through to Q3."
