Yuki Tsunoda arrived in Miami saying he needed to improve his performance in the final round of qualifying.
But he failed to even reach the second round in qualifying for the sprint race after a confusing end to the session when he encountered his team mate Max Verstappen on an out-lap.
Tsunoda’s session began to go awry as early as turn three on his first flying lap, when he briefly encountered Oliver Bearman’s Haas which had just left the pits.
“Some intelligent car just came out from pit and aborted my lap,” he told the official F1 channel afterwards. “A lot of cars cost my lap a lot, first lap, to be honest, and that’s it.”
Despite the delay, Tsunoda kept pushing, but an error at turn 17 cost him even more time. He went in too deep and ran so wide at the exit he only just stayed within track limits.
“At the last corner, obviously, I had quite a lock-up,” he added. “But to be honest, anyway, the lap was pretty [much] gone already from turn one because of the car at pit exit. I just wasn’t able to do a proper lap at all.”
After returning to the pits, Tsunoda suffered a further delay leaving the garage to begin his final lap. His race engineer Richard Wood told Tsunoda “we have to push” as he joined the track.
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He repeated his warning several times over the lap and advised Tsunoda to push to stay ahead of Lance Stroll, who was on a flying lap behind him. “We’ve got Stroll behind but we have to hold position here, we have to make up the time,” Wood warned Tsunoda as he approached turn 11.
However Tsunoda let Stroll by in turn 12. “Okay, let’s get going after him,” said Wood.
Tsunoda appeared concerned to ensure he wasn’t running too close to Stroll and began to drop back. Wood told him: “Don’t worry about gaps ahead, push now.”
As Tsunoda approached turn 17 he began to catch Verstappen in the other Red Bull, who was also on an out-lap. Verstappen had set a quicker time than tsunoda and Red Bull were in the process of deciding he did not need to run again and therefore could pit.
In quick succession, Verstappen’s race engineer told him to let Stroll past (the Aston Martin driver nonetheless felt he was held up by the Red Bull), then Tsunoda, then told him to pit. Meanwhile Tsunoda, seemingly uncertain about whether he should overtake his team mate, held back.
“Keep pushing,” Wood urged him, then said: “Let’s go, come on!” Tsunoda passed Verstappen and accelerated to the line but by the time he reached it the chequered flag was already waving. He kept pushing initially until Wood told him the session was over.
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“I meant, what do you want me to do?” asked Tsunoda as he drove back. “We’ll speak in the garage,” said Wood.
Afterwards Tsunoda said the exchange of information between him and the team needed to be better. “What [they] want me to do, I don’t know, because there’s a car in front and communication is pretty poor as well,” he said. “Just in general I didn’t [have a] proper qualifying [session].”
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2025 Miami Grand Prix
- Antonelli expects keeping McLarens and Verstappen behind “won’t be easy”
- Verstappen avoids penalty, Red Bull reprimanded for delta time error
- “What do you want me to do?” The confusion which sealed Tsunoda’s SQ1 exit
- Stewards summon Verstappen over delta time, Stroll wants him investigated for impeding
- Antonelli stuns McLaren pair to claim pole position for sprint race
