Racing Bulls left the Australian Grand Prix empty-handed despite a strong showing from Yuki Tsunoda, who felt the team “deserved points” after running in sixth position for a significant portion of the race.
The Japanese driver’s promising weekend, which included a fifth-place start, was undone by a late-race strategy call as rain descended upon the Albert Park circuit.
Tsunoda had maintained a solid position within the top six for the majority of the race, showcasing the pace of the Racing Bulls car.
However, when the rain arrived, the team opted to keep Tsunoda on the track for a few extra laps on slick tires, a decision that proved costly. While other teams, like McLaren, opted to pit their drivers for intermediate tires, the gamble to stay out backfired for Racing Bulls.
Tsunoda briefly climbed to second as the rain intensified, but the time lost struggling on the wrong tires ultimately relegated him outside the points after his pit stop.
“In terms of how I felt in the car and how I drove, I felt we deserved the points,” Tsunoda stated after the race. “I’ve done whatever I could have done, the weather just didn’t come towards us with the timing and everything, and suddenly I dropped to P11 after [the] Safety Car after I rejoined the track. So, timing didn’t go for us and definitely a shame that we didn’t score points.”
The disappointment was compounded by the fact that several of Racing Bulls’ rivals managed to secure valuable points in Melbourne. Williams collected 10 points, Aston Martin took eight, and Kick Sauber earned six, highlighting the competitive nature of the midfield battle this season.
Adding to the team’s woes, Tsunoda’s teammate, rookie Isack Hadjar, was involved in an incident on the formation lap, causing him to slide into the barriers and preventing him from starting his maiden Grand Prix. Hadjar was visibly distraught, but team boss Laurent Mekies offered his support, emphasizing the importance of learning from the experience.
Mekies also took responsibility for the strategy misstep that cost Tsunoda points. “Yuki was performing very strongly until the rain returned. There is nowhere to hide, we got our last call wrong, and it cost us very dearly today. For this we apologise to Yuki; the gamble to keep him out didn’t pay off but it’s part of the harshness of motorsport,” Mekies admitted.
Despite the disappointing outcome, Tsunoda remained optimistic. “It’s not ideal, but we can take a lot of positives from this weekend; we had pace and, if we can maximise performance, we can have a good race weekend. We’ll just have to keep performing like this and come back strong,” he said.
Racing Bulls will be looking to bounce back from this setback at the next race, aiming to capitalize on their car’s pace and make better strategic decisions when opportunities arise.
