Red Bull “owe” Yuki Tsunoda after “shocking” early qualifying exit

Yuki Tsunoda was frustrated to have suffered an early qualifying elimination for the United States Grand Prix sprint race.

The Japanese driver, who appears set to lose his Red Bull seat for 2026, dropped out in the first part of sprint qualifying in 18th after failing to reach the timing line to start his final lap before the chequered flag was waved.

Tsunoda was sent out last by Red Bull at the end of SQ1, leaving him with too much to do in order to complete his out-lap in time.

A stunned Tsunoda insisted his “shocking” exit was “not in my control”.

“The timing of the garage exit was, I think, not even close,” Tsunoda rued to the official Formula 1 channel.

“I don’t know what’s happened there, to be honest. Something went wrong and we didn’t have any opportunity to do a lap time so [it’s a] shame.

“It’s very frustrating because […] it’s not in my control. It’s not a thing I can control, to be honest.

“We can control it, but it was more up to them rather than myself, managing the timing. So it’s pretty shocking.”

Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson, who Tsunoda replaced at Red Bull after the second race of the season, prevented his former teammate from overtaking him during the out-lap.

Tsunoda’s situation was not helped by the fact he also had to get out of the way of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who was on a timed lap.

Max Verstappen went on to claim pole position for Saturday’s sprint race in the other Red Bull.

Red Bull apologise to Tsunoda

Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies admitted Tsunoda’s elimination was a result of a team error and apologised to his driver.

“We got it wrong, honestly,” Mekies told Sky. “We apologise to Yuki, the programme was a bit too tight.

“It was a choice between staying out and cooling down [the car] on-track, or trying to cool down a bit better in the garage.

“We thought we would have the time to come back into the garage and get out again, but it was only possible for a few cars to do that and we missed the cut. So we owe Yuki and apologise there.”