'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Red Bull Racing's Yuki Tsunoda, who was coming off a solid Bahrain Grand Prix weekend and a strong first free practice session in Saudi Arabia, suffered a mishap during the second session and caused a red flag to be waved on Friday. Tsunoda clipped his front left tire on the wall as he was making the final turn during a lap, which caused him to lose control of his RB21 and put him into the barrier. The front wing of his vehicle completely came off after he collided with the wall on the right side.
Luckily, the Red Bull Racing driver radioed immediately that he was okay and soon exited the car. The F1 official X (formerly Twitter) account shared a video of the moment Tsunoda lost control of the car after touching the wall, adding the caption:
"A costly moment for Yuki Tsunoda in FP2 😱 "
Trending
After the incident, the practice session was red-flagged, and when FP2 resumed, there was just over a minute remaining, allowing the grid to get in some practice starts but not altering the final order of the session, which saw Yuki Tsunoda take sixth place on the leaderboard.
Last weekend in Bahrain, Tsunoda crossed the finish line to take P9, only three spots behind his teammate, Max Verstappen, and both of them took home points for the team, making it the first time this season that both Red Bulls scored points. At the end of the first practice session earlier today, the Japanese driver and the Dutchman finished close to each other, securing P10 and P9 in the period's leaderboard.
FP2 was topped by the McLaren drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Behind them was Verstappen, followed by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, then Tsunoda, who was ahead of George Russell, Pierre Gasly, Nico Hulkenberg, and Alex Albon, who closed out the Top 10 of the period.
Yuki Tsunoda accepts responsibility for crash
Speaking with F1TV after the crash during the second practice session, Yuki Tsunoda admitted that the blame for the incident falls upon him, as well as taking a minute to convey his apologies to the team. The Japanese driver explained that he had turned too much, causing him to lose control of the RB21 and end his session in sixth place. The Japanese driver said via Motorsport.com:
"Just turning too much and clipped the inside wall and just had damage. After that, just no control. Apologies to the team, things were looking good, so it's a shame."
"I had a limited time on the long run which I caused by myself [with the crash] so I can't really complain. It's not definitely not how I wanted to end up, that's for sure."
The next practice session for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix takes place on Saturday, followed by the qualifying period for the main race on Sunday.
