Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull, Las Vegas Strip Circuit, 2025

Yuki Tsunoda was bemused by his latest elimination in Q1 having described his pace earlier in the weekend as “amazing”.

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies admitted their driver was compromised in qualifying because the team made a mistake with his tyre pressures.

“I just didn’t have any grip,” said Tsunoda after dropping out in the first round of qualifying for the second weekend in a row. “I did whatever I could but just no grip. That’s it.”

However he suspected there was something amiss with his tyres. “I’m [not] sure what’s happened with the tyre sets,” he told the official F1 channel. “I don’t know, I feel like it’s very strange.

“It’s a shame. Until today it was amazing pace, probably the best pace I’ve had and it’s very tough.”

Tsunoda began the weekend third fastest in the opening practice session, ahead of team mate Max Verstappen. He was 15th in the second session, where he was one of many drivers who was unable to set a flying lap on soft tyres.

Mekies said the blame for Tsunoda’s exit was “on us”.

“We made a big mistake with his tyre pressure which meant that he was out there with a setting that basically gave him no chance to be competitive,” said Mekies. “So we as a team apologise to him for that.

“This sort of thing should not happen, but it did, so the best we can do is learn from it and come back stronger. He’s been in a really good rhythm all weekend, so it is painful to have taken his chance away.”

F1’s official tyre supplier Pirelli raised the minimum pressures for all front tyres by 1psi between second and third practice. Slicks and intermediates must now be inflated to 29psi, full wets to 24psi.

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