Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda was pleased with his first ever qualifying at his home Grand Prix; however, he was far from happy with under-pressure German Mick Schumacher at Suzuka.
In what were beautifully dry conditions, a complete contrast to the drenched Friday, Tsunoda got to work in front of the moved loved Japanese fans.
The session actually went better than he probably could’ve predicted, with the AlphaTauri driver managing to comfortably out-qualify Alpine confirmed team-mate Pierre Gasly.
Tsunoda was the only AlphaTauri to make it to Q2 and eventually sealed a P13 start for his home race, which looks set to be held in incredibly mixed conditions.
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His French team-mate could only manage P17, meaning he was eliminated in Q1 just a few hours after he was announced as Esteban Ocon’s team-mate for next season.
Both Tsunoda and Gasly had a few hairy moments during the session, as both drivers complained about brake issues.
It was evident that something wasn’t right, as the pair appeared to lock-up multiple times at a variety of corners, with ex-F1 driver Jenson Button pointing out that one of Tsunoda’s lock-ups at Turn 16 happened much earlier than usual.
A lock-up at Turn Nine was actually what cost Gasly a place in Q2, with the Frenchman missing the Q2 cut by less than a tenth of a second.
Whilst also having to deal with a potential brake balance issue, Tsunoda also had a couple of sketchy moments with Schumacher.
The 23-year-old, like Tsunoda, out-qualified his team-mate and was the sole Haas to make it to Q2, with the son of Michael Schumacher securing a P15 start for Sunday’s potentially wet race.
The first of two incidents between Tsunoda and Schumacher happened at the pit exit during Q2, with the pair following each other down the pitlane.
Tsunoda led Schumacher but at what appeared to be an oddly slow pace, resulting in Schumacher overtaking the Japanese driver the moment they crossed the white line at the end of the pitlane.
As they’d gone past the white line and entered the circuit, there was technically nothing wrong with it; however, it did infuriate Tsunoda.
The pair almost came to blows again as they reached the end of their out-lap, as Tsunoda attempted to overtake Schumacher on the rundown to 130R.
As part of a gentlemen’s agreement, drivers tend to follow each other through the last few corners, so that each competitor can generate enough heat into their tyres to fully prepare for their hot lap.
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With this in mind, Schumacher was weaving on the rundown to 130R, seemingly in a bid to get his tyres into their peak window; however, Tsunoda attempted to overtake the German, something which he quickly realised wasn’t on due to the Haas driver weaving.
Tsunoda did get too close to comfort, as the pair almost collided, with the Japanese driver potentially being in the German’s ‘blindspot’, due to his weaving.
The AlphaTauri driver jumped onto his team radio, insisting that the weaving was “so dangerous from Schumacher”; however, no investigation took place.