Yuki Tsunoda was confused by a disappointing Dutch Grand Prix qualifying result that came at the same time the biggest threat to his Red Bull Formula 1 seat put in a statement performance.
While Tsunoda was eliminated in Q2, half a second behind team-mate Max Verstappen and slowest of the four Red Bull drivers, Isack Hadjar was a career-best fourth in qualifying at Zandvoort for the second team Racing Bulls.
Tsunoda is trying to keep the Red Bull seat he inherited from Liam Lawson at round three of the season, but has so far failed to convince the team he is the right long-term choice.
He returned from the summer break optimistic that Red Bull was willing to give him more time, because Tsunoda believes the team has realised just how much he was being held back by a car specification discrepancy.
However, Hadjar has emerged as Red Bull’s priority to partner Verstappen unless Tsunoda can turn flashes of promise into real results - which failed to happen in Zandvoort qualifying.
"I was expecting more," admitted Tsunoda, who will start 12th.
"Honestly the confidence I had in the car was pretty good and I was able to control the car more than ever at any other grand prix.
"So to be honest it doesn’t really stack up with the feeling I had in the car and the laptime."
Tsunoda had looked around three tenths slower than Verstappen going into Q2, although was never a nailed-on Q3 contender - he looked more marginal than that through practice and in Q1.
He was actually quicker than Verstappen halfway through both their Q2 laps before fading badly each time.
The long Turn 9 and Turn 10 corners in the middle of the lap, and the chicane, were his undoing on the first run - while on the second all his time loss was in Turn 10 and the chicane.
It meant he missed out on Q3 by a tenth and a half, with no obvious explanation why. It could be that Tsunoda pushed both axles too hard early on, especially compared to Verstappen, but he did not have an answer for it after the session and Red Bull did not indicate there was a problem.
"It’s very strange," said Tsunoda. "Very strange.
"Honestly I didn’t have any mistakes. I was also working hard quite a lot, gaining every single millisecond through every single corner, and also in how I progressed and processed through the weekend with the engineers.
"So I’m happy with it. But it didn’t really show much in the laptime in qualifying."
Tsunoda’s failure to land a result in qualifying compared awkwardly to Hadjar, who was immensely impressive yet again.
Despite being on a tough run results-wise in grands prix, especially as Lawson had returned to strong form before the summer break, Hadjar’s performance has remained strong - and qualifying fourth at Zandvoort was a return to the kind of headline-grabbing result that characterised his high-flying start to the European season in May and June.
This was also despite missing FP2 because of an engine problem, and on his best lap in Q3 losing time in the pitlane to queueing - although Hadjar himself didn’t think this actually hurt his tyre preparation.
He felt he might have got lucky with the wind in the right place in the middle sector on his final lap - he gained two tenths on Lawson in the long Turn 9 right-hander alone - but his first run on used softs was already very strong, so this looked like it genuinely reflected a stellar Hadjar performance.
"Finally I'm quite satisfied with what I did," said Hadjar, who has seemed unimpressed by his own good results at times.
"To be honest, it was the car being exactly like I wanted. It was responding really well, especially on that final lap.
"Probably we got a bit lucky with the wind gusts. But I pulled an amazing lap and it stuck because the car was great.
"It's probably the best lap I've had this year because it's a very hard track, really demanding. And I put it all on the line, especially that final corner. I thought I did pretty well there to actually gain one more tenth. And that was special."
This was the third race in a row Racing Bulls got both cars into Q3, as Lawson’s renaissance continued.
Though not as high up the grid as Hadjar, qualifying eighth means Lawson has his fourth top-10 start in five races - a run of form that is behind Red Bull considering keeping him at the second team next season despite his demotion from the top team earlier this year.
"It's very gusty here, so throughout it definitely makes a difference," said Lawson after failing to improve his Q2 time in Q3.
"You can just get unlucky with wind gusts. The tyres are very sensitive as well, and having the right balance makes a difference.
"So, it's a bit puzzling, because the natural progression is obviously to jump a couple of tenths each session, but for whatever reason we didn't in Q3."
