Tsunoda looks back on the brake issues that cost him a top 10 finish
AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda was comfortably in the points on Sunday in Monaco before a brake issue ruined his race and pushed him out of the top 10. The Japanese driver has more concrete explanations to provide.
After qualifying in P9 on the grid, Yuki Tsunoda was on track to score points. However, he lost positions towards the end of the race when he reported a brake issue on his car.
These problems caused Tsunoda’s pace to drop towards the end of the race: the Japanese driver saw both McLarens, both Alfa Romeos, his teammate Nyck de Vries, as well as Albon overtake him.
Until the beginning of the race, everything was going well, but I had a problem with the brakes and I couldn’t push at all. The pace was really, really bad, he said.
Not far from giving up
As he was trying as best he could to hold on to his position against Valtteri Bottas, he went straight ahead down Mirabeau. Fortunately for him, the escape route allowed the Japanese driver to avoid finishing his Grand Prix in the wall.
Tsunoda even nearly stopped for good while trying to address the situation after receiving advice from his team on how to handle his braking issue.
The team told me to apply more pressure on the brake because the temperature is going to increase and the brake will be in an ideal temperature range. That’s what I did, to see how it would go, and I almost hit the wall.
