Yuki Tsunoda thought he did all he could to delay Lando Norris’ run in F1 Abu Dhabi GP, as he explains radio message and that he hasn’t felt any different for now.
Tsunoda found himself in a similar spot as Sergio Perez did back in F1 2021 when he had to delay Lewis Hamilton to help Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen. It was direct fight that day, but the 2025 tussle had permutations and combinations in display against McLaren’s Norris.
It was short-lived fight put on by Tsunoda against Norris, as he tried to cover him at Turn 9 but the Brit took the inside line, traveling a bit off track in the process. The subsequent investigation saw the Japanese driver handed 5s time penalty for defending hard by changing lines.
It surprised the Red Bull driver, as he ended up outside the points with the penalty. “I have to review back to see what happened there,” said Tsunoda to media. “I kind of have idea why they applied penalty, but at the same time, I have to really review back to see if that actually deserves five seconds penalty or not, because it cost my race massively.
“Yeah, that’s it. Everyone’s doing [what I did in defence]. I don’t know what they’re thinking about., It was very harsh. In terms of using last corner, well, I thought about it. Yeah. He was also quite far away. I think he managed massively to turn nine, his gap was still, like, 8/10ths, 9/10ths. And he was closing up, I guess, 5/10ths per lap. So I thought I could hold on one more lap.
“But also, he did well that he maximised performance in turn one, two, three, four, five. And closed the gap, he did well, but at the same, I don’t think there’s not much difference even though I slowed down massively because probably he will overtake me into turn one,” summed up Tsunoda, who elaborated on his Kimi Raikkonen-style radio call of leaving him alone in the fight.
He could sense nervousness in the call. “Just that they were keeping it by consistently in the radio, like ‘ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba’,” continued Tsunoda. “I can tell from stress from them, but, like, ‘look, I know what to do. We talked about it, I will try my best to defend as much as possible to him’. There’s no benefit that I let him go easily, so…that’s it.
“I mean that’s what I did and I tried my best. But he just came very quick and overtook me,” summed up Tsunoda, whose current tenure of being a F1 driver came to end after five seasons. He will be reserve at Red Bull, with an eye out at 2027 to make a return. But for now, the Japanese driver hasn’t felt the pinch just yet. It was a hard run all year in 2025, which could be the reason for it.
He reckoned he drove well in the second half but was out of luck., even though he doesn’t believe as much in luck. “Yeah, I don’t feel like…well, I mean, it feels normal currently,” said Tsunoda. “I don’t know why. It feels like last year finishing Abu Dhabi. Yeah, looking back, to be honest, I don’t like to use the word called luck, to be honest, much.
“But I mean, second half of the season especially, let’s say, my luck was nothing, like, a lot of things went on without my control and within that try, I think multiple time I showed my pace, which is good. But even last year, last race was that I had five seconds penalty, it was a bit tough. But at least I gave it all, that’s it,” summed up Tsunoda.
Here’s moment against Lando Norris: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-abu-dhabi-grand-prix-norris-runs-off-track-to-pass-tsunoda-for-p3.1850858075357532879
Here’s Max Verstappen and co on Yuki Tsunoda
Here’s Lando Norris and co on Yuki Tsunoda
