Yuki Tsunoda reckoned it was unnecessary for Liam Lawson to make contact in F1 Italian GP, as Laurent Mekies stresses on race pace deficit.
It started off on a decent note for Red Bull’s Tsunoda in F1 Italian GP at Monza. Even though he lost out to Lewis Hamilton, he kept Andrea Kimi Antonelli at bay along with Oliver Bearman. But as the race progressed, his race pace deficit started to play on him, which allowed the Italian through.
Red Bull pitted him to cover Bearman, but unfortunately he lost out to the Brit, even though he just came out in front. His lack of confidence under race conditions could be seen. No sooner than that, he suffered damage after collision with Lawson, who pitted way before Tsunoda.
The Japanese driver had cleared him at Turn 1 and in an attempt to come back on him at Turn 4, they made contact. Lawson slowed to give him the place, but the damage was done. The two stuck together for rest of the race to finish outside the points, when Tsunoda had a chance to score.
He felt it was an unnecessary move from Lawson, but he understood that his Red Bull seat is coveted one. “I got squeezed [in Turn 1], probably he [Hamilton] didn’t even make the corner on Lap 1,” recalled Tsunoda when asked by media. “I am happy what I did, happy that I was able to avoid the collision. Good point actually, I’ll raise myself, he didn’t even make the corner, he divebombed into me, I could actually raise a point.
“The pit stop was okay [in the race], I got distracted by Lawson, who made contact and that was quite big enough to pick up damage and that was big enough to slow me down quite a lot, so very frustrating and very unnecessary for me. I haven’t heard the specific details, but it’s not even like a few points, it’s really, really big.
“I was gaining one second per lap, and he started last and he was not even fighting for points. I don’t know. If you’re fighting for points, there’s room that I can understand because even with a sister team… we’re enemies and especially this position where I’m sitting now is probably my most high competition out of any world. But at the same time, there’s a line, you can’t cross it and I mean, what’s the point?
“I was fighting for points and he wasn’t. I don’t know what to say,” summed up Tsunoda, who felt his qualifying pace has improved and it showed in Monza, even though he was on a different floor to Max Verstappen and also slightly different set-up. Not just the Japanese, team boss Mekies too stressed on race pace that is making the biggest difference in the driver decision.
“Not easy, but at the same time, you just have to do it like it is tough situation but at the same time like quali lap is getting better and better,” said Tsunoda. “That is some positives that I can take, probably one of the closest this weekend in terms of short run, until Q2, I was consistently behind Max by two tenths. We know we have different floor.
“I mean Q3 I know exactly what happened that cost me quite a big difference but it is getting there. With the long run, it is something that I need to work bit more, especially today which didn’t help me with the damage. At this point, it happens and it is not easy but I need to just keep fighting, chin up and believe myself.”
Mekies added: “Quali pace, race pace, that’s what we look at. It’s as simple as that. Today’s race for Yuki is difficult to read because of the traffic in the first stint. Damage in the second stint. But I look at yesterday’s qualifying. I still qualify it as a good weekend. He was 2 tenths from Max in Q1. Max was not exactly slow this weekend. And with a small deficit from the car, he was 2 tenths from Max in Q2.
“There is no doubt everybody is pushing 100% in Q2. And yes, the gap was bigger in Q3. But first, he put the car in Q3, which is a very good performance. And second, he was first on the road in Q3. It didn’t help as well. So I think short run pace was a very good sample for Yuki. Long run pace, it’s frustrating not to have a clean race data.
“I’m tempted to tell you, clean samples. Because today was a poor sample. You know how it is. The races at the front are very clean. You get at least a good stint to read your performance. Here, it’s very difficult to get anything out of today. First stint in traffic, second stint with the car damage.
“If I look back at the last couple of races, it’s quite similar. I think it is correct to say that we probably have more work to do on the race face than on the quali face with Yuki. But again, it’s also why we are giving ourselves a bit more time.”
Here’s incident between Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-italian-grand-prix-lawson-hands-a-place-back-to-tsunoda-after-wheel-to-wheel-contact.1842624167514631105
Here’s what Liam Lawson said about it