Red Bull issue Yuki Tsunoda apology after ‘big mistakes’ led to Las Vegas GP nightmare | F1 | Sport

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies issued a grovelling apology to Yuki Tsunoda after the team made ‘big mistakes’ leading to his premature elimination from qualifying at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

The under-fire Japanese racer will line up 19th on the grid with only struggling Ferrari icon Lewis Hamilton behind him. Tsunoda was optimistic heading into the session, but a critical error on Red Bull’s behalf left him on the back foot.

“We made quite big mistakes with his tyre pressures,” team boss Mekies explained after the chequered flag dropped in qualifying. “These things obviously should not happen. Apologies to Yuki, he was in a good rhythm all weekend, and it’s really painful to take this chance away from him.”

According to a report from Motorsport.com, the error alluded to by Mekies related to tyre pressures, which Red Bull failed to adjust to Tsunoda’s liking. With incessant rain in the build-up to qualifying wreaking havoc on grip levels, this was a catastrophic mistake from the team.

“We didn’t expect to use the extreme tyres,” Tsunoda said after suffering his latest F1 setback “I’m just three seconds off compared to any other drivers. Clearly, I was missing something, because I was literally driving on ice, so I don’t know what’s happened.”

Team-mate Max Verstappen fared better, but the four-time world champion was still unable to fight Lando Norris for pole position. Instead, the Dutchman will line up alongside his championship rival on the front row, with Williams’ Carlos Sainz behind him.

For Tsunoda, this setback arrived at the worst possible time. After a better weekend in Austin, the 25-year-old has failed to score points in back-to-back Grands Prix, and his outing in Brazil was nothing short of disastrous, especially when contrasted with Verstappen’s remarkable comeback from the pit lane.

With three races remaining in 2025, Red Bull has yet to finalise their driver line-ups for next season, although Tsunoda’s chances of partnering with Verstappen again are incredibly slim.

Instead, the Japanese racer appears to be in a head-to-head fight with Liam Lawson, although this time around the duo are fighting for the chance to remain in F1 and partner highly-rated teenager Arvid Lindblad at the Racing Bulls squad.

“If I say I’m not nervous, that would be a lie,” he confessed on Thursday in Las Vegas. “It’s just a similar situation as last year or even two years ago, so to be honest, I got used to it. That’s part of this Formula One. The good thing is I had experience with that situation a lot of times.

“I know what I have to do for the next few races. In the end, those decisions I can’t control, right? So, what I can control is to give the performance and give my best. That’s what I enjoy, that’s what I’m here for, so that’s what I’m going to do.”