“I lost the power”: Yuki Tsunoda opens up on his disappointing qualifying in Silverstone

Yuki Tsunoda opened up on his disappointing qualifying session at the British Grand Prix. The Japanese driver detailed that an electrical power issue was largely behind his failure to advance to the final round of qualifying.

The 25-year-old, who has been on a run of underwhelming results—including a last-place finish at the Austrian Grand Prix—entered the Silverstone event hoping to improve his overall performance. However, any hopes of such improvement ahead of the race were soon dashed, as a power issue ahead of the final straight on the start-finish line led to him failing to advance to the third qualifying session.

Weighing in on his session following the conclusion of qualifying, the Red Bull Racing driver explained how he lost about a tenth of a second, which could have translated to his progression into Q3.

"I lost the power, to be honest. I started the lap, launching into the last corner, and the power I normally get—I didn't have it. I lost about a tenth in Turn 3, just from that lap time until the main straight. And a couple of acceleration boosts were not working in the last push,” Yuki Tsunoda said via Motorsport.

"So, considering that, the lap was pretty good. And how tight it was... I think most likely I was going through to Q3. So, really annoying. Q3 was possible."

In his last five outings in the Red Bull car, Yuki Tsunoda has failed to qualify past the second round of qualifying. Specifically, ahead of the British Grand Prix, the 2018 Japanese F4 champion was on a streak of consecutive Q1 exits, which stretched across four races between the Monaco Grand Prix and the Austrian Grand Prix.

Yuki Tsunoda brought an end to this underwhelming run by qualifying in 12th place at the British Grand Prix. He will, however, start the race in 11th following a 10-place penalty handed to Oliver Bearman for a red flag infringement during the final part of practice.

What Christian Horner said about Yuki Tsunoda’s qualifying

Christian Horner also weighed in on Yuki Tsunoda’s performance during the British Grand Prix qualifying. The Red Bull Team Principal expressed his overall delight with the improvement of the Japanese driver, while also acknowledging the difficulties he encountered during his run.

The motorsports chief, who spoke to the media following the conclusion of the qualifying session, also stressed how unlucky Tsunoda had been during the session. Sharing his thoughts, Horner stated:

“He was unlucky because he said he ran out of what we refer to as E-boost—so, electrical power—at the end of the lap, which cost him about a tenth. And with the field so tight, that was the difference between Q3 or not today. I think he's driven pretty decently so far this weekend. We’re trying a very different approach with him to get the best out of the car, with perhaps a slightly different setup to that of Max [Verstappen].”

Yuki Tsunoda, who continues to trail Max Verstappen at Red Bull, will now shift his focus to securing his first point for the Milton Keynes outfit since the Miami Grand Prix weekend when the lights go out for the start of the Silverstone race on Sunday.