Yuki Tsunoda’s consistent run of form ended on Sunday at the Monaco Grand Prix, with the Japanese driver having felt like a “passenger” when the heavens opened late on.
The 23-year-old was having an excellent afternoon at the Circuit de Monaco up until the latter stages of the Grand Prix, with Tsunoda having been running amongst the top 10.
He found himself in ninth for the bulk of the race and looked comfortable for a points finisher, something which was cruelly snatched from him.
Tsunoda arguably struggled more than any other driver when the rain started to fall late on, with him having complained about his brakes over the team radio.
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His race engineer tried his best to motivate Tsunoda; however, the Japanese driver felt like the team were wanting him to crash by encouraging him to go faster.
“This brake sucks!” shouted Tsunoda over the team radio, before questioning whether AlphaTauri were “trying to crash me or what?”
Tsunoda quickly tumbled from ninth to 15th, with rookie team-mate Nyck de Vries having ultimately finished ahead of him.
The vocal driver explained after the race just how much he was struggling with his brakes when the rain arrived, with him having just been pleased to have avoided an accident.
“I struggled the whole week, in dry conditions it was okay, but when this rain started the brake issue got exaggerated,” Tsunoda explained after the race, as reported by PlanetF1.com.
“I couldn’t do anything and the pace was really bad. It was really hard and I just had to back off a lot to not crash, and at least I didn’t damage my car, but really tricky to handle it.”
Tsunoda went on to reveal that the brake issue he was suffering from during the race was actually present “all weekend”, resulting in him feeling “frustrated” due to knowing that the AT04 had the pace to score good points.
“It’s a tough result because we showed good pace and were in control, especially in the dry,” Tsunoda added.
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“With the rain starting, the timing of our pit stop from the mediums to the intermediates was perfect, so the team did a good job with that.
“The issue with the brakes I had all weekend amplified in the rain, and it was difficult to control and manage the situation. I felt like a passenger from then until the end of the race.
“Of course, I am frustrated, and so is the team, because points were possible today. It’s hard to accept it, there are still things which need to be improved, but there are certainly positives to take from this weekend. We will now reset ourselves and focus on Barcelona.”