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Yuki Tsunoda did not hold back on the self-criticism after a first major Red Bull crash just as he needed his big chance with the team to spark into life.
Tsunoda’s make-or-break Formula 1 chance with Red Bull has been underwhelming so far, even though it has been an upgrade on the dismal first two race weekends his predecessor Liam Lawson endured.
Glimpses of promise and increasing comfort with the tricky Red Bull RB21 have so far failed to translate into any kind of meaningful performance step.
Tsunoda is yet to qualify higher than eighth and has scored six points in four events as Max Verstappen’s team-mate - including a low-yield double in Miami across the sprint and grand prix.
It was possible that Imola would yield a breakthrough given Tsunoda was within a tenth of Verstappen in Friday practice, but he was nowhere in FP3, a raft of car changes were made for qualifying, then Tsunoda crashed in a big way just a few corners into his first Q1 lap.
“It was just really stupid, pushing unnecessarily hard,” said Tsunoda.
“We had a lot of changes to the car, pushing that hard without understanding enough about the car…[it was] just very unnecessary, pushing that hard from that early stage.”
This was just one example of several answers in which Tsunoda berated himself. And he dismissed a suggestion the error may have stemmed from feeling pressure from Red Bull to start scoring better results and grab the opportunity he has.
“The team is supporting me enough to take off pressure as much as possible,” Tsunoda said.
“I just tried to be a hero in Q1, which is unnecessary, and aiming to just to pass Q1 with just one set [of tyres used].
“I made a lot of changes to the car. I don't know much about the car, how the car is gonna react in everything, high speed, slow speed. And that kind of corner you need to build up, especially after a massive change.
“I had confidence that I can handle it, but at the same time…to be honest, this is kind of an excuse, but it's just experience with the car, and car changes – and how the car reacts has been unexpected.
“But I know the kind of reason that caused that kind of balance into the corner.”
Essentially, Tsunoda’s saying he should have known better. He took an unnecessary risk at the wrong time. And that is not something inexperience with the RB21 excuses.
“It’s been five years in Formula 1,” he pointed out. OK, he hasn’t crashed in Q1 in “such a long time, but how I did it [today] is unacceptable”.
On a day when Verstappen came close to scoring another pole position as he fights the McLarens single-handedly at the front, it was another stark reminder of where Red Bull's second driver problem has left the team.
And what happened to Tsunoda was worryingly reminiscent of past team-mate failings. Which is not a reference to Lawson - this was akin to Sergio Perez’s lowest moments at Red Bull.
Perez had an early, unnecessary Q1 crash in him on his worst days when he was either chasing the car, chasing Verstappen, or both. And it was the big errors and general lack of pace that ground him down and ultimately meant the peaks were not really relevant.
But at least he had the peaks. So far, Tsunoda’s flashes have been restricted to practice.
And he sorely needs to do something in a meaningful session to show his progress hasn’t stagnated early - otherwise, he will be limited to picking up the odd point, which is not why Red Bull took the drastic decision to replace Lawson after two races and give Tsunoda a chance after all.
There is never a good time to crash but there are particularly bad times to do this and instead of starting a tough triple-header on the front foot, Tsunoda has ended up in the barrier after a momentum-reversing, confidence-sapping shunt.
That is not the way to prepare for a first race with Red Bull in Monaco. And before then, Tsunoda has to try to salvage something from last on the grid at Imola (assuming he does not end up starting from the pitlane) in a race where progress will be extremely difficult.
There is still a sense that it could come together for Tsunoda at Red Bull in a way it was never likely to for Lawson. But sooner or later it actually has to come together.
And as Tsunoda knows, Red Bull is not a place where that time will be indefinitely afforded.
