Helmut Marko assesses Yuki Tsunoda’s struggles at F1 China GP: Lack of rear grip and tire selection errors explained

How did Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s motorsport consultant, assess Yuki Tsunoda, who suffered from a lack of rear grip during the weekend and was behind his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo in every session?

Hiroki Tsunoda achieved a two-point finish in the opening four races and was faster than his teammates in every qualifying round, but in the fifth round, the Chinese GP, he lost his competitiveness significantly.

In free practice he was 7 tenths of a second, in sprint qualifying he was 5 tenths of a second, and in qualifying he was 3 tenths behind Ricciardo, and on the 27th lap of the race he had to retire to retire after his right back was. captured by Kevin Magnussen (Haas).

Ricciardo also suffered damage to his car after being torpedoed by Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), resulting in RB’s (formerly AlphaTauri) first double retirement from Grand Prix Italian Prix 2021.

Lack of knowledge and “mistakes” in tire selection

Marco mentioned the performance of Oscar Piastri (McLaren) in his column for “SPEEDWEEK” and stated that the characteristics of the Shanghai International Circuit were one of the reasons for Hiroki Tsunoda’s decline.

“As you can see from Yuki’s example, there is no doubt that this is a circuit where experience is important,” said Marko.

“If you look at Oscar Piastri, another driver who didn’t drive in Shanghai, he was half a second to a second per lap slower than Lando Norris during the race.”

“Especially in the sprint format, there is less free practice time, which puts rookies at an additional disadvantage. “

Hiroki Tsunoda used solid tires in the same practice at the weekend, but as this was the first session, the grip on the road surface was very low and he was “just sliding around. “

“Racing Bulls probably made a mistake” in terms of tire choice, Marko said, noting that it had a negative effect on his experience on the course he was running on for the first time. hour.

Magnussen chance to win

Although he eventually retired, Yuki Tsunoda put on a show despite the difficult conditions, taking advantage of the grip of the soft tires and moving up three positions on the opening lap.

However, regarding the speed he struggled with during the weekend, he said, “I didn’t feel it had improved yet. The problem is how to find the pace, but there was definitely a big difference compared to my teammates.’ ‘” he admitted.

However, Marko believes that Hiroki Tsunoda’s race pace was comparable to Ricciardo’s race pace, and that he would have had a chance to score points had Magnussen not contacted him.

“Tsunoda’s lap times in the race were on par with Ricciardo. He would have had a chance to score points, but his hopes were dashed by Magnussen,” wrote Marko.

As for Ricciardo, he said the new chassis had a positive effect on his mental health, saying it was “much better” compared to the last four races.

He said: “I can’t believe Lance Stroll was called ‘stupid’ after the checkered flag. Plus he had to take a grid-fall penalty in Miami. It was a weekend it was really bad for him.”

Special Feature F1 China GP