Yuki Tsunoda believes he is closing the pace gap to Max Verstappen, despite facing multiple setbacks at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Japanese driver struggled at the Hungaroring due to front-wing damage and team miscommunication, which led to a disappointing P17 finish.
He exited in Q1 after qualifying 16th. Red Bull then made the call to start him from the pit lane, following a power unit change. But Tsunoda couldn’t move forward in the race, as mid-race damage crippled his car’s performance.
“We knew coming into today that it would be tricky to move up into the points, and once I had damage to the front wing our race was effectively over,” he explained after the race.
“The gurney flap fell off halfway through and that cost us a lot of pace and worsening grip, so we then lost the ability to make a positive strategy call that would benefit us.”
Tsunoda Calls Out Repeated Miscommunication
Tsunoda also pointed to another communication breakdown, echoing the mistake from Spa that hurt his chances there.
“Also, something we can improve a lot communication wise is that if I was fighting for the points, there was a situation that could cost quite big,” he added.
“It has happened the last two weeks, the last two races back-to-back in a row so it is starting to get very frustrating with that. Something we have to improve a lot and fight hard the second half.”
Tsunoda Stresses Progress and Prepares for Summer Reset
Despite seven scoreless races, Tsunoda believes the floor upgrade has helped him match Verstappen’s pace more closely. Since receiving the same spec as Max at Spa, he says he has seen significant improvement.
“Looking back on the season so far, I can feel pretty positive, we’ve made progress, especially since the new floor upgrades were brought to Spa,” he continued.
“The gap with Max continues to close, it may not feel like we are getting there but on paper we are only one tenth off his pace. I’m not sure many other drivers could get as close to him.”
Tsunoda plans to visit the Red Bull factory immediately and work on the simulator to fix the issues.
“I am heading straight to the factory tomorrow to go into the [simulator]. We need to investigate where we went wrong and put in some hard work over the summer break so that we don’t start the next half of the season how we finished this one. It’s frustrating but we will stay positive and bounce back stronger.”
Tsunoda has collected 10 points this season—three for Racing Bulls and seven after joining Red Bull. His best Grand Prix result remains ninth in Bahrain, alongside two sixth-place Sprint finishes.
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