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AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda conceded he got “too excited” before crashing out of his second-ever Formula 1 qualifying session at Imola.
Tsunoda scored points on his F1 debut in the Bahrain season opener and had completed an extensive private testing programme at Imola in the winter break, which he had hoped would play to his advantage.
But weekend didn’t get off to the best of starts as he lost time in FP1 due to an electrical issue, while his team-mate Pierre Gasly was inside the top six in all three practice sessions.
In qualifying, Tsunoda lost the rear in the first part of the Variante Alta and when he attempted to correct it, the car snapped to the right, and he slid backwards into the barrier.
The incident brought out the red flag, and with no time on the board, Tsunoda will start tomorrow’s race at the back of the grid.
“Pushing too much on entry,” Tsunoda told Sky Sports F1 when asked what caused the spin.
“To be honest until then, the lap felt great. Potentially it was easy to go through Q1 with one tyre, [but] I just was too excited.
“For me, that was a stupid mistake and I feel really sorry for the team, I’ll just drive my best tomorrow.”
The 20-year-old Red Bull Honda protege said he was more worried about the car than himself but confirmed that he was unhurt in the accident.
“Tomorrow is going to be different conditions,” he added. “Rain, anything can happen.
“Don’t do mistakes like today, was always going to be difficult conditions so I just have to adapt to the conditions as fast as possible and push hard until the end.”
