Yuki Tsunoda and Alexander Albon relay F1 Mexico GP contact, as Pierre Gasly and the Haas pair reflect on points scored.
After his qualifying incident, a crash in the opening corner of F1 Mexico GP was the last thing that Visa Cash App RB’s Tsunoda would have wanted. The Japanese driver tried an opportunistic move on the long main straight, taking the outside line against his rivals.
But it came undone when Williams’ Albon was unsighted after a slight movement from Alpine’s Gasly, which caught out both the drivers. While Tsunoda hit the wall and crashed out straight, the Williams driver had his suspension off and retired a corner later.
Tsunoda felt sorry for his mechanics, but noted that he would do it again as he had good start. But his loss only fueled Haas further as they generated a 10 points gap to Visa Cash App RB in the standings. Albon too felt it to be a racing incident, but he added that it is always a risk for any driver to take the outside line in that corner.
It left him slightly frustrated to lose out again in two races. The misery for both Williams and Visa Cash App RB allowed for a better Sunday for Haas and even Alpine. Granted the former already looked a step ahead of their immediate rivals during the weekend, but Hulkenberg could have been challenged by others.
He did not feel good all-along the weekend unlike teammate Magnussen, who ended up seventh. He was super confident and reckoned the couple of changes – especially the brakes – and the updates seemingly worked in his favour to give him that extra comfort.
They were running seventh and eighth for most part until the late push from Oscar Piastri to separate them. The Dane was, in fact, catching Max Verstappen in front. But they were overjoyed by a good points haul amid an up and down run in his last year in F1.
Tsunoda: “I just found some space at Turn 1 entry, to be honest, I can’t blame any driver because Alex also didn’t have space as well. It was complete racing incident, if I were able to make the corner then probably I would have overtaken a lot cars but it just didn’t work. If I get asked that will I do one more time? Then I’ll probably say yes, because I had good momentum from the start. If I had qualified where our true pace was, we wouldn’t have been in that position. I’m very sorry to the team. They did a fantastic job to prepare everything from. I’ll reset and come back strong again.”
Albon: “That’s just how it normally is, you are on the outside playing and then the car in front of me I think Kevin was able to tuck in and so for a short period you are left by yourself in the clean air and then the tow effect starts. Obviously, Haas were also the slowest cars on the straights this weekend, so into Turn 1, it was always going to be a bit difficult. The crash itself, I don’t know, no one to blame. I think Pierre drifted slightly, normally not really an issue and I kind of anticipated it. At the same time, Yuki was aggressive but it wasn’t wrong just frustrating. I think you are putting a lot of trust on everyone staying in a very tight, compact line and obviously, there is always going to be movement in the braking zone.
“It is possible to do it in a one on one style like, in that case, there’s less risk, there’s less opportunity for cars to move on the brakes with dirty air and whatever, people getting squeezed. I mean it was brave but…it is one of those where you want to see. But when I looked it back, I don’t see I could have done anything differently. It sounds silly but maybe if I really made sure Yuki couldn’t attempt the move he did, he would have been a bit frustrated at Turn 1 but…it is two Lap 1 incidents in a row as well, I am just frustrated to have a positive weekend turn into a disappointed result.”
Gasly: “I mean, I am happy. We knew that we could be 11th if Perez comes back, 10th if he doesn’t. So, I think we clearly did the best we could. At the start I hoped that maybe I could have hung with the Haas. On the medium I wasn’t far but I could see them pulling away with a tenth or two, and as we switched to hard, they were way too competitive and looking at Magnussen where he finished, they are definitely very strong on Sundays.
“On our side, I am happy that we learn from Austin, two Q3s in two weekends, P12 in Austin and P10 in Mexico with a bit better pace, still some things to do but I think the last points finish was in Zandvoort, I am happy for the team that we could score. Regarding Lap 1, Initially, I thought I had a puncture. I couldn’t really see Alex, I felt the touch on braking and usually that can easily create a puncture, so we had a quite lucky escape. It was quite hectic as well, like when I saw the tyre, I didn’t expect it to fly past the car, I think it touched my front left actually, so quite impressive.”
Hulkenberg: “There was no way, I think at the end, he was 15s ahead of me, generally very positive with Kevin in P7 to hold off that McLaren. For me, happy with P9 actually considering that the feeling I had in the car was pretty poor all weekend. Its been a struggle and I didn’t manage to get on top of things, I didn’t really feel the car beneath me, sometimes you have those weekends and you still need to make the most of it. And I feel like I have done it, in one had, I am happy and pleased about that but on the other hand, a bit disappointed I couldn’t do more like Kevin.”
Magnussen: “I think we did the best we could in Mexico, we couldn’t have done it better if we tried again. I had the car in that sweet spot, I was super confident. The car was very-very comfortable, didn’t make any mistake through the whole race, it was so easy to drive. I could push the tyres and manage them at the same time, just got it into that little window where the magic happens.
“I don’t know [what has clicked for me in the last two races]. We made some changes to the brakes, for example. And I have been just very confident in the car, what I need to do is try to hang onto the comfort and something weird has changed the last two races that has given me a car that I can really push.”
Here’s Lap 1 contact: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2024-mexico-city-grand-prix-albon-and-tsunoda-crash-out-on-lap-1-in-mexico.1814112720766569877
Here’s Liam Lawson, Franco Colapinto on Mexico GP
Here’s how F1 Mexico GP panned out
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