Tsunoda Left Puzzled by Spanish GP Qualifying Struggles

Yuki Tsunoda expressed significant confusion following a challenging qualifying session for the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, which saw the Red Bull driver finish at the very bottom of the timesheets. Tsunoda endured a difficult start to the race weekend, reporting a lack of pace and grip throughout Friday practice. Despite hopes of improvement for qualifying, the Japanese driver was unable to find the necessary performance, culminating in a disappointing last-place finish in Q1. This result stood in stark contrast to that of his teammate, Max Verstappen, who secured a third-place grid slot for Sunday's race. The disparity in performance within the team highlighted Tsunoda's struggles on the Barcelona circuit. Speaking after qualifying, Tsunoda admitted that something felt 'off' with the car from the outset of the weekend. He described facing persistent grip issues and a feeling that the tyres were being heavily worked, making it difficult to extract performance. Efforts were made by the team to address these problems through various setup changes, but Tsunoda indicated that these adjustments did not fully resolve the underlying issues. He found the situation particularly perplexing given that his final lap in Q1 felt clean and without major errors, yet the pace simply wasn't there. While frustrated by the lack of a strong result in qualifying, Tsunoda attempted to find positives, noting that consistency had improved throughout the weekend and significant mistakes had been avoided. Looking ahead to the race, he remains determined to push and potentially recover positions, acknowledging that the Barcelona track offers opportunities for overtaking. The focus will now shift to understanding the root cause of the qualifying struggles and aiming for a stronger performance on race day to try and salvage some points.