F1 paddock insider ‘floored’ by what the Mexico City Grand Prix crowd did to Yuki Tsunoda after his crash

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RB driver Yuki Tsunoda was given a glimmer of hope that he could be a Red Bull driver ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Going into the penultimate triple header of the season, Yuki Tsunoda knew he had already seen off RB teammate Daniel Ricciardo as a potential competitor to replace Sergio Perez.

Helmut Marko called Tsunoda a candidate for Red Bull but knew he had to outperform Perez and returning driver Liam Lawson.

There are high hopes for Lawson within the Red Bull group, and his ninth-place finish on his second debut in Austin turned heads in the paddock.

Tsunoda arrived at the Mexico City Grand Prix with a point to prove and did so through all three practice sessions, comprehensively beating Lawson and Perez.

However, the Japanese driver couldn’t fulfil his potential in qualifying, crashing on his last run and ending Lawson’s hopes of a top-ten finish as well.

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Tsunoda then failed to reach the first corner during Sunday’s race and speaking on YouTube, paddock photographer Kym Illman has shared his view of his crash with Alex Albon.

he 24-year-old took a gamble down the outside of turn one but once Albon marginally moved across to avoid Pierre Gasly and once contact was made, Tsunoda had no chance of avoiding the barriers.

Illman has now shared how the crowd in Mexico reacted to Tsunoda’s incident and was shocked at their response to a driver linked with replacing thier hometown hero failing to finish the race.

How the Mexican Grand Prix crowd reacted to Yuki Tsunoda’s crash

Covering the start of the race from turn one in Mexico, Illman described what he saw and said: “Now, let’s go to Yuki’s crash at turn one.

“I see this puff of smoke and then a car in the air, so I changed my focus from the field heading around turn one and follow Yuki. At the time I didn’t realise it was Yuki.

“Now, as he comes back here, you can see that there’s a big flash of sparks underneath the car because the back right-hand wheel is missing.

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“It keeps coming back towards the photo tower, and looking back at the photos here I can see a number of photographers have taken evasive action as you would.

“Yuki gets out of the car and the doctor takes him over to the medical car and puts him in that and he’s whisked back to the medical centre for a check-up before they move the car.

“But what floored me was the round of applause for Yuki when he walked back to the media centre.

“They winched that car off the track and ended up sticking it right behind the photo tower.”

Martin Brundle shares his verdict on who was at fault for Yuki Tsunoda’s race-ending crash

Tsunoda thanked his RB engineers during his warm-up laps to the grid for repairing his car after his mistake in qualifying.

They managed to do so without changing any parts that would have earned him a grid penalty or forced him to start from the pit lane but that might have been a blessing in disguise.

Tsunoda didn’t get the best getaway but braked much later than the cars around him, dipping his outside wheels onto the grass on a couple of occasions before the braking zone.

Martin Brundle shared live on commentary who he thought was at fault between Tsunoda and Albon, who also had to retire due to the damage done to his Williams.

Tsunoda had a much better chance of a Red Bull promotion earlier in the season when he was in sensational form.

Unfortunately, the team have lost ground in the development race and now RB will be hoping to cling onto seventh in the Constructors’ Championship with Haas quickly moving out of sight.