Red Bull boss Christian Horner claims that social media unnecessarily blew the criticism against Yuki Tsunoda out of proportion.
Yuki Tsunoda became the primary target of Christian Horner after the Mexican Grand Prix qualifying when he said, “We just got Tsunoda’d”. The 21-year-old race driver went out of the track when Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen came with their last flying lap.
The move by Tsunoda distracted Perez apparently, and it also affected Verstappen. However, AlphaTauri took a firm stance to defend its driver. Meanwhile, the Japanese International even tweeted in response.
Nothing I can do more than that…
— 角田裕毅/Yuki Tsunoda (@yukitsunoda07) November 6, 2021
Mercedes even replied to advise him not to pay any heed to the “haters”. Overall, Horner soon got a backlash for his words. And now the Red Bull boss thinks his statements were blown out of proportion.
Criticism to a driver aside, it’s slightly worrying (embarrassing) how Christian Horner words can basically encourage abuse towards a driver. We all saw it with Lewis Hamilton at Silverstone and now with Yuki Tsunoda in México. At this point the man better not speak.
— i⁴⁴ (@f1witch_) November 6, 2021
“I think if you look into the context of what is said, and with these things, unfortunately social media has a habit of picking on certain lines and then exploiting them,” said Horner.
“I think it would be a pretty boring world if you are unable to comment on the performance of a driver.”
Christian Horner changes stance
However, Horner has agreed to reconsider his opinion on the incident. He claims after knowing other aspects of playing at that moment. He thinks Tsunoda could have got more information.
“I think having had a chance to consider. I think in fairness to Yuki perhaps he could have been helped a bit more, with more information,” explained Horner.
“The outcome was unfortunate, particularly as he was only there to give a tow for his team-mate. But it is what it is. In the end, it worked out okay, because starting on the second row worked out fine for us.”
Nevertheless, Red Bull managed to win the Mexican Grand Prix. And is only one point away from Mercedes in the standings with Perez’s P3 assist.
