Yuki Tsunoda ‘exploded with frustration’ over Red Bull car ‘reset’ that ruined his Hungarian Grand Prix

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Red Bull Racing driver Yuki Tsunoda had another tricky weekend at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

On the face of it, Yuki Tsunoda finishing the Hungarian Grand Prix in 17th, eight positions behind teammate Max Verstappen, is another damning performance from the Japanese driver.

However, Tsunoda might have actually put in one of his best performances since being promoted into the Red Bull seat earlier in the season.

Tsunoda became the first Red Bull driver to beat Verstappen in a practice session this year in FP2, and was less than two-tenths behind the Dutchman in Q1.

However, Red Bull’s ‘rude awakening’ during the weekend that they were well off the pace of their rivals meant that wasn’t enough for Tsunoda to reach the next stage of qualifying.

A pit stop start, a switch onto the unfancied soft tyres and front wing damage all hampered Tsunoda’s progress on Sunday.

It now appears as though a change Red Bull made to the 25-year-old’s car during the race weekend without telling him went down particularly badly.

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Red Bull failed to tell furious Yuki Tsunoda about settings ‘reset’ at the Hungarian Grand Prix

Writing about the Hungarian Grand Prix in his newsletter, Japanese journalist Owari Masahiro shared more details about why Tsunoda’s latest Red Bull race didn’t go to plan.

When Tsunoda was getting ready for his qualifying simulation in FP3, he had to abandon his first lap due to locking his brakes going into the opening corner.

He tried to use the dials on his steering wheel to switch between short and long-run settings in the car, before asking: “It feels completely different, is the toggle setting correct?”

His race engineer replied: “Plus two more,” leading Tsunoda to say: “Isn’t that the mode you use for long runs?”, to which his race engineer replied, “It was reset.”

An angry Tsunoda remarked: “You should have told me that before the session, seriously. I’m not half asleep!”

This lack of clarity over the settings in his car led to Tsunoda ‘exploding with frustration’ according to Masahiro, and the 25-year-old stated: “[The settings error] was an issue for our garage.

“We just couldn’t prevent something that could have been easily prevented. We didn’t do what we should have done as we normally do.

“It’s not something I can control; it’s something the team has to control, so I’m very frustrated about that.

“I think it’s increased a little since I came to Red Bull, so I hope that improves that.

“We made some big changes to our setup in FP3, so it was disappointing that we weren’t able to check it. Small details like that have an impact in qualifying, so I think we need to discuss it.”

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Yuki Tsunoda told by Laurent Mekies what he needs to do to retain his Red Bull seat

The biggest challenge this season is to prove to new team principal Laurent Mekies that he deserves to be at Red Bull next year.

There is a strong argument for retaining Tsunoda regardless of his stuttering form.

The upcoming regulation changes mean stability is going to be key, and with more than 100 Grand Prix starts under his belt, Tsunoda has plenty of experience when it comes to developing a car.

There are also very few alternatives available if Tsunoda is dismissed, although Isack Hadjar is Red Bull’s favoured candidate if the 25-year-old moves on.

Mekies has told Tsunoda what he must do to be retained by Red Bull, but the emphasis is also being put on his team to help him bridge the gap to Verstappen.

After vouching for the Japanese driver to be given the latest updates at Spa, Red Bull appear to have caused Tsunoda to take another step back at the Hungaroring.