Yuki Tsunoda criticised the stewards’ decision to penalise him for overtaking Oscar Piastri under red flags during the third practice session.

The Red Bull driver was given a 10-place grid penalty for the incident. Tsunoda passed Piastri as the McLaren driver limped into the pits with a damaged right-rear corner during final practice.

He was astonished to receive a penalty and insisted it had been safer to overtake the McLaren because it was damaged and shedding parts.

“The 10-place grid penalty came out of nowhere, to be honest,” he told the official F1 channel. “I didn’t expect to be even summoned for that. I don’t know what they wanted me to do.

“Oscar had massive damage [approaching] the last corner. I saw him in the back straight driving at 80kph, very, very slow, same as the pit lane speed [limit], spreading all over the debris, everywhere.

“I saw even the tyre was going sideways. So I thought if I keep driving behind at one point the tyre’s going to take off and hit me. You want to avoid that.

“It’s a very unnecessary situation, driving behind at 80 kph, waiting [to] get hit. Or by luck, maybe you don’t get hit. Apparently it’s the rule that you have to stay behind.”

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Tsunoda said he overtook the McLaren safely given the circumstances. “He was driving [on the] far left lane to obviously avoid situation causing any issues with the other drivers. He did, I think, a very good job.

“That’s why I went [on his] far right with a clear view. I obviously checked there’s no car in front [or] car behind. And I overtook him at 170 kilometres per hour, which is like half the speed we normally drive, to avoid the unnecessary situation. And apparently it’s not allowed. Apparently they expect me to sit behind the car and wait to get hit.

“So [if] it’s a rule, it’s a rule. But in free practice I don’t think I deserve this penalty because debris was all over the place. Not just at the last corner, I saw most of the corners small bits coming out.

“I don’t know what they want me to do, to be honest. Clearly it’s frustrating.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner defended his driver, saying it was a “tough” situation “because it looked like Oscar was potentially going to stop the car or it was significantly damaged as he was coming back to the pits.”

Only one other driver, Lewis Hamilton, caught Tsunoda’s car during the red flag period. He stayed behind the McLaren after his race engineer Ricardo Adami told him: “Do not overtake. He has an issue but better to be safe.” Tsunoda received no such message from his race engineer.

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