F1 fans accuse Red Bull of ‘sabotaging’ Yuki Tsunoda’s Belgian Grand Prix after hearing Laurent Mekies’ comments

Follow us on Google Discover

Yuki Tsunoda enjoyed one of his best qualifying sessions to date at Red Bull, after getting through to Q3 and within three tenths of Max Verstappen.

It has been a difficult run of races for Tsunoda since he took over from Liam Lawson at the start of the season, but the Japanese driver has kept trying to close the gap.

New Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies admitted that the team had released a stockpile of new parts they had in reserve for Verstappen and used them on Tsunoda’s car, which is what brought him closer in qualifying.

The sacking of Christian Horner was said to be one of the key factors that could save Tsunoda’s career, as it was the Briton who kept the parts in reserve. While Tsunoda ran comfortably in the top ten during the race, Red Bull’s excessive tyre wear problems appeared to impact them and forced him into making another stop.

F1 fans took to social media website X (formerly Twitter) to voice their frustration with Red Bull, after hearing what Mekies said after the race.

F1 fans accuse Red Bull of ‘sabotaging Yuki Tsunoda after making extra pit stop

Mekies admitted that Red Bull called Tsunoda into the pits too late when speaking on F1 TV’s post-race show and apologised for the mistake, but fans felt they should’ve made a decision quicker.

One fan wrote: “Yuki lost five places because you couldn’t make up your mind,” while another agreed and added: “Boxed him a lap late and he’s lost five positions.”

Another fan commented: “How please tell me how your race engineer is busy doing something else that it takes him 15 seconds to reply to box only for him to be already at Eau Rouge like LMAO.”

One fan said: “Thanks for ruining his race – too late man,” while another accused the team of sabotage: “Thanks for sabotaging him, much appreciated.”

Other fans also voiced their frustration: “Lost 5+ seconds on track doing it though,” and another wrote: “Why you guys so late?”

Yuki Tsunoda closes the gap to Max Verstappen in qualifying

The positive that Tsunoda can take away from the weekend at Spa was getting closer to Max Verstappen in qualifying.

The Japanese driver has been outqualified 11 times so far this year, and the gulf between the pair reached over half a second at the Spanish GP.

That gap stayed at five-tenths at the British GP, but the addition of the new parts has now brought Tsunoda closer overall at the Belgian GP.

It is also the first time he has reached Q3 for Red Bull, having regularly dropped out in the first part of the session at recent races.