Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has accepted blame after Yuki Tsunoda was eliminated in SQ1 during sprint qualifying at the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1, the Frenchman admitted that the team’s run plan left its Japanese driver without time for a second push lap.
“Yeah, we got it wrong, honestly,” he said. “We apologise to Yuki. The programme was a bit too tight.
“It was a choice between staying out and cooling down on track or trying to cool down a bit better in the garage, which we thought we would have the time to do – come back into the garage and get out again – but it was only possible for a few cars to do that and we missed the cut.
“So we owe Yuki an apology there.”
Tsunoda finished SQ1 in 18th place after missing the line to start a final flying lap as he struggled against traffic. With him being reliant on his initial banked lap, he simply didn’t have the pace and will start near the back of the grid for Saturday’s sprint race.
At the front, Max Verstappen secured sprint pole, finishing ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri as a tight session came to an end.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
“Honestly, it was an amazing job from the team and from Max,” Mekies said. “We were a touch behind McLaren in Q1 and again in Q2 – about a tenth, a tenth and a half.
“We knew it was always going to be touch-and-go. Lando put in a very strong lap in Q3 and it looked difficult to match. Max was line-for-line with Lando for most of the lap, but in the final corners he really sent the car in and [made] the smallest of the gap we needed to get the pole.”
He continued, adding that the competition is so close that it comes down to timing instead of car performance.
“I think it’s fair to say that now whoever is nailing it between us, McLaren, and Mercedes – nail the window, is going to have enough potential to put it on pole. It’s great to go into a weekend not knowing who is going to be able to do that. We are all very, very close. Today, Red Bull and Max did a great job and it was incredibly close.”
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