A baffled Yuki Tsunoda has said it does not stack up that his feeling in Red Bull's Formula 1 car translated into last place in Spanish Grand Prix qualifying, as he feels he has been making "good progress…and suddenly it drops like hell".
Tsunoda was slowest in Q1 at Barcelona, six tenths behind team-mate Max Verstappen despite the four-time F1 world champion only completing a single run earlier in the session when the track was slower.
It continued a disappointing weekend in which Tsunoda has always looked like a long shot to be in the fight for points, having been outside the top 10 in FP2 then final practice on Saturday, struggling all the while with sliding on both axles - which persisted into qualifying.
Tsunoda said that something has not felt right from his "first push" in opening practice and everything Red Bull has "tried almost every set-up" since then but has not been able "to cure the core limitation" of the front and rear sliding.
"Until Monaco I was having good progress throughout and the last two sessions I was matching or a bit faster than Max, and suddenly it drops like hell," Tsunoda said.
"And whatever I do, every lap, even like a long run was a good example – just whatever I do, nothing happens. And it feels like this car is eating the tyres like hell, having degradation massively.
"It doesn't really stack up. The core limitation is still there, and I don't know what it is, and I can't really have any answer to that."
The really curious thing after a second Q1 exit in three races is the contrast between the result and Tsunoda's impression of how his weekend has gone inside the car.
"I'm still convinced that we're able to at least put it all together in terms of the car balance," he said.
"The car balance itself is not bad, and at least also my confidence was there. The lap in qualifying in both tyres, especially the last push, was pretty good.
"It doesn't really stack up with my result and the pace I'm having."
There are some mitigating factors for why Tsunoda achieved such a poor result in qualifying in Spain.
He is on a slightly different specification to Verstappen as he is still missing the latest floor, which is a consequence of the big crash Tsunoda had on his first lap in Q1 at Imola.
That is only thought to be worth around a tenth of a second, although it is also part of a push from Red Bull to eke out a wider set-up window on the car, so there could be a little more laptime derived from a better feeling on both axles.
As Verstappen is both a world-class driver and uniquely gifted at driving tricky Red Bulls quickly, it is unlikely that Tsunoda - seven races into his Red Bull career after being parachuted in to replace Liam Lawson at round three in Japan - would be within a couple of tenths of his team-mate most of the time.
Plus, Spain's been particularly poor for the second Red Bull in recent years - Sergio Perez was six tenths off Verstappen the last two seasons before this.
So, a generous interpretation of Tsunoda's performance is that it is at the worse end of the usual spectrum for Verstappen's team-mate, without quite being a total disaster, and it is the extremely condensed field spread that has exaggerated how bad it looks by turning a deficit that would usually be just about OK for Q2 into an embarrassing 20th.
"In terms of positiveness, I would say how I built throughout the week, and how my comms and everything, has been one of the cleanest," he said.
"And also my lap as well, at least in terms of the consistency, in terms of how I put it all together every lap since FP1, also pretty consistent. From FP1, there was not anything like a massive mistake in my push lap.
"Previously I had multiple mistakes in the push lap, which gives an idea why I was slow in some sessions, but at least this week, my confidence was there, and the consistency was there.
"That was positive, but it's just a shame that it didn't really follow that progression – at least in myself."
However, subject to Red Bull uncovering an obvious issue - which hasn't happened, and team sources have only indicated to The Race that Tsunoda has been off it this weekend without a clear reason why - there could just still be a big chunk of time in Tsunoda's driving.
He bled six tenths to Verstappen throughout the lap, and it is hard to discern whether that is a result of a lack of grip or just a consistently inferior technique, because the loss could be consistent with either. However, there are definitely hints of Tsunoda overdriving.
It is known that he is trying to drive like Verstappen, a method he believes is crucial to getting the most out of the car. Tsunoda told Viaplay in Monaco that to use the downforce the RB21 generates "you need to drive smoothly and basically you need to drive like Max", the implication being if you do not do that then you are sacrificing the downforce. But Red Bull feels he needs to accept a slightly lower ceiling and focus on driving more naturally.
In qualifying in Spain, Tsunoda was notably weaker in high speed. He lost a tenth through the fast Campsa Turn 10 right-hander in the middle sector and had a big lift in the final corner as well, grappling with high-speed understeer. But in the final sector he also showed signs of chasing too much as he knew the lap was getting away from him, leading him to brake too late and losing even more time.
Tsunoda, though, didn't really exhibit an indication he feels it was anything to do with that. He just sounded vexed by what - at least to him - feels like a very abrupt end to solid progress. And he does not think there is any point in a pitlane start and an aggressive set-up change for the race because Tsunoda believes it is not a set-up issue. It's something inherent to his car at this track.
"To be completely honest, this grand prix was, for me, really special," said Tsunoda.
"Let's see. But I think I've done differently, at least until previous grands prix, and the team were on the same page with me. The pace was really there.
"Monaco was a shame with the red flag [on the first run in Q2] but at least I've shown pace. I heard multiple times from the team that it's been a while that this second driver is able to match Max. So they were happy.
"But this grand prix somehow just drops massively for whatever reason, and I'm not able to show my performance. Which is a shame. It's something that for this grand prix I feel is really, really strange."
