Yuki Tsunoda helped AlphaTauri with pack-up after his short F1 Mexico GP race as Esteban Ocon and Mick Schumacher talk of the incident plus Christian Horner reflects on Saturday happening.

It’s been a rollercoaster ride for AlphaTauri’s Tsunoda in 2021 and also in F1 Mexico GP, where post-qualifying ‘Tsunoda’d’ comment led to headlines, while it ended up in a Turn 1 collision with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Haas’ Mick Schumacher.

He didn’t have far to go back to the pits but what followed was a real team-effort scenario. AlphaTauri shared a video showing Tsunoda having a laugh with his “advisor” Alexander Albon but it didn’t end there, he started mucking in and helping the team with the dismantling of all the paraphernalia.

With a triple-header coming up, every helping had is good, with the video having a cameo appearance of Pierre Gasly too. But going back to his race, there wasn’t much to talk about in the end. It was wild and wacky from midfield and back but was triggered really by the front action between Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo.

While Ocon tried to take an evasive action going into Turn 1, he got sandwiched with Schumacher on his right and Tsunoda on his left. Interestingly, the Frenchman escaped any damage but the German had his left-rear suspension broken, while the Japanese went airborne to have damage at the front and also rear of his car.

Tsunoda: “I think Ocon got sandwiched and there was not any place to escape for him and his front tyre and my rear tyre just touched. It’s just really frustrating. I think overall this weekend we’ve had really strong pace so it’s a shame. We had pace to score points in this race.”

Schumacher: “I saw a lot of smoke and normally that isn’t a good sign. I didn’t want to be face-on so I decided to go to the middle and unfortunately there were already cars there and we all got bunched up, and I made contact with Esteban Ocon. It’s unfortunate but these things happen – it’s not the first time it’s happened in my career and I’m sure it won’t be the last. I was looking forward to driving here and learning, next year hopefully we’ll have a better car and can attack more. We can always take positives.”

Ocon: “I think the first thing is probably was triggered by Bottas, then there was Fernando closing on the right side, that pushed Mick towards me, and then you had Yuki there with not much space. There was not much more I could have done, I am sorry that we collided like that but as I said, there was nothing that I could have done and three cars in the same corner never works really. So yeah, that’s how it is, but really looking at it, I don’t think we would have all make it through if did things differently, you just can’t go through the corner.”

All in all, it was not a great weekend for Tsunoda. He made it to Q3 and helped his teammate Gasly as was the plan due to his engine penalty, but an incident near the end possibly would not have have endeared him to the local faithful. Running wide and locking up to get away from the chasing pack, it distracted Sergio Perez who had to slow.

Not just that but it affected Max Verstappen too and he too had to pull out. But Tsunoda had actually been doing his best to keep out of the way of Perez. Driving honestly, he attempted to keep out of the way as much as possible, he ran wide while Verstappen was getting a tow from the Mexican.

Verstappen gave him flak but really it was just racing. Post-session, Horner termed it as ‘Tsunoda’d’ which actually helped the Japanese to be praised on the social media whereas Red Bull got the flak for throwing their driver in the bin. In fairness, Tsunoda was a bit put out by it and slightly embarrassed but he was honest and the fans, particularly the locals were generous to him.

In fact, he had a chat with Helmut Marko too, who did not find any fault with Tsunoda. Post-race, Horner understood the situation as well and mellowed down, while noting that social media took that one word and made it look like a huge thing.

Tsunoda: “Yeah, I mean, I was expecting a bit of the opposite, so I was not watching too much social media. But I’m happy to hear that, even though I ruined the lap for the national driver. Like I said, it was the only place to go. I did my best to not stop him. It is what it is. But I’m happy to hear the fans being on my side.”

Horner: “Having had a chance to consider it I think in fairness to Yuki, perhaps he could have been helped a bit more with more information. But the outcome was unfortunate, particularly as he was only there to give a tow for his teammate. But it is what it is. In the end, it worked out okay, because starting on the second row worked out fine for us. I think if you look into the context of what is said, and with these things, unfortunately social media has a habit of picking on certain lines and then exploiting them. I think it would be a pretty boring world if you are unable to comment on the performance of a driver.”

Here’s what happened with Ocon, Tsunoda and Schumacher: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2021-mexico-city-grand-prix-esteban-ocon-survives-squeeze-at-start.1715798883419707772.html

The story was written by Neil Farrell

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