Yuki Tsunoda did not shy away from showing his frustration after his team instructed him to swap positions with Daniel Ricciardo towards the end of the opening round in Bahrain. On the other hand, Ricciardo wasn’t happy about the timing of this swap, which led to tensions post-race. V-CARB CEO Peter Bayer takes responsibility for this mishap, that caused the fight between his two drivers.
Citing the ‘mess’, Bayer stated that the team should have focused on Lance Stroll first instead of going for Kevin Magnussen. Doing the latter prevented Ricciardo’s charge up the field. Furthermore, focusing on Stroll could also have avoided the fight between Tsunoda and the Aussie.
Bayer said to Autosport, “I think we should have focused on Stroll. And covered Stroll on lap 29. He did 28, we should have covered him in 29. It would have avoided, first of all, the fight with Magnussen. And it would have avoided the mess between the drivers. But it’s always easier afterwards.”
Tsunoda and Ricciardo were on alternative strategies. The Japanese driver was closing out on the hards, whereas Ricciardo, who pitted late, was charging up on the soft compound tires. V-CARB felt that prioritizing Ricciardo was the right call, but Tsunoda wasn’t happy when his team asked him to switch positions.
He delayed the swap for one whole lap, which could have cost Ricciardo a chance at the points since he was on fresher softer tires. The 23-year-old then sarcastically thanked his teammate after the incident, but that is not where this tussle ended.
Yuki Tsunoda versus Daniel Ricciardo
Tsunoda started the Bahrain GP race in P11, three places ahead of Ricciardo. However, during the race, they came very close to each other and were jockeying for positions. On lap 52, Mattia Spini, Tsunoda’s race engineer asked him to swap positions with Ricciardo, following which, all hell broke loose.
Despite the swap and Yuki losing his temper, neither driver could make any moves. Ricciardo was stuck behind Magnussen’s Haas and ended the race in P13, ahead of Tsunoda.
Even after the race, Tsunoda didn’t calm down. In the cool-down lap, he locked up while trying to pass his teammate, and nearly collided with him while rejoining the track. Ricciardo was dumbfounded, especially because he revealed post-race, that the swap between them was already pre-decided.
Tensions will be high between these two motivated and competitive drivers. They take to the track in a few day’s time again, for the Saudi Arabian GP in Jeddah.
