Yuki Tsunoda’s tricky start to life at Red Bull Racing has been made even worse by a 10-place grid penalty at Formula 1’s Canadian Grand Prix.
Tsunoda was punished by the stewards for overtaking under the red flag during final practice.
That red flag was caused by Oscar Piastri clanging his McLaren against the barrier on the exit of the final chicane.
The red flag was flown when Tsunoda was at Turn 6. The stewards found Tsunoda did reduce his speed and caught Piastri on the back straight.
“[Tsunoda] said that he saw [Piastri] travelling slowly on the left side of the track with obvious damage,” the stewards wrote.
“He said that he was worried that he might be struck by debris from [Piastri] and decided to overtake.
“Telemetry showed that Piastri was travelling at 86kph when Tsunoda overtook at a speed of 171kph. Having considered the matter extensively, the stewards determined that while Piastri had an obvious problem, it was not travelling at such a speed that it prevented Tsunoda from following it at a safe distance.
“The circumstances were such that there was no justifiable reason for the driver of Tsunoda to have overtaken Piastri.”
The stewards always take a dim view of red flag infringements, hence the punishment of a 10-place grid penalty plus two penalty points - the only points on Tsunoda’s licence right now.
Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto was investigated for a similar incident - overtaking Ollie Bearman under the red flag - but he was cleared by the stewards.
“Bortoleto was on the back straight travelling at a speed of 325kph when the red flag was first displayed,” the stewards wrote.
“Bearman was travelling slowly on the right side of the track. Telemetry showed that within 0.6 seconds of the driver of Bortoleto sighting the first red flag light panel, he lifted completely off throttle and applied firm braking.
“At that point Bearman was only 57 metres ahead. Bortoleto explained that the speed delta between his car and Bearman was such that he could not have safely reduced speed any quicker to avoid overtaking Bearman.
“Having considered the matter extensively, the stewards determined that the Bortoleto did everything he could reasonably have been expected to do in the circumstances.
“At the point where Bortoleto overtook Bearman, the speed of Bortoleto had reduced to 196 kph and the driver was continuing to apply significant brake pressure.
“We were satisfied that the overtaking of Bearman was unavoidable in the circumstances and for that reason determined to take no further action.”
