How did Tsunoda help Verstappen to secure pole in Jeddah?
Having completed his third qualifying with Red Bull, Yuki Tsunoda made it into Q3, displaying a promising performance all through the session, but a "messy final lap" saw him end up only ninth on the grid.
Following a tough Bahrain Grand Prix, Red Bull have turned their weekend around in style. Max Verstappen already showed signs of competitiveness across the Friday practice sessions, confirming that the high-speed corners of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit suit his RB21 much more than the traction-dominated Sakhir track.
The reigning champion was right in the mix all through Qualifying, and he started more and more comfortable in his RB as the track surface constantly cooled down. The Dutchman went for two runs after the Q3 red flag, and it proved a masterstroke, his second lap was good enough to take his 46th career pole position.
His team mate Yuki Tsunoda was impressive through the first two qualifying segments, but he could not put it together in the final qualifying session, and the Japanese ended up ninth on the grid.
The Japanese driver played a big role in Verstappen's pole position as he offered slipstream to the Dutchman. Tsunoda finished his final lap earlier than Verstappen, and gave the reigning champion a tow on the main straight which definitely contributed to the four-time F1 champion's pole position as he only beat McLaren's Oscar Piastri by a mere ten thousands of a second.
Commenting on his qualifying session at Jeddah, Tsunoda said that while he is "building up [his] confidence in the car", he failed to deliver a clean lap in the dying stages of the all-important session.
“It was an okay Saturday to finish P8. Congrats to Max on pole, he did a great lap. My last push lap in Q3 was quite messy and I was expecting slightly more today.
"We are still learning and it feels like there’s always something that happens when I push more, unpredictable things happen, and it’s been quite difficult to put everything together for a clean lap.
"It’s pretty frustrating when I can’t put it all together in Q3 when it counts, but it is at least positive to be in Q3 again this weekend. Some of the difficulties are due to experience, it is only my third race with the Team but my confidence is building up in the car, I have to keep pushing and we want more.
"Hopefully we can be more consistent in the race tomorrow, our setup is more focused on the long run rather than the short run and I had more confidence in those laps. I will do my best to overtake and to finish with good points," concluded Tsunoda.
