Yuki Tsunoda was surprised to receive an order from his race engineer telling him to drop back from the cars ahead at the end of the sprint race.
Red Bull issued the instruction to Tsunoda while he ran 10th in the queue behind the Safety Car as the race neared its end.
Despite Tsunoda’s confusion, the team declined to elaborate on the reason for the unusual order. His race engineer Richard Wood told him repeatedly they would explain the call in the garage afterwards.
Red Bull gave the order to Tsunoda after his team mate Max Verstappen, who was running fourth ahead of him, was given a 10-second time penalty for his collision in the pits with Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Several other drivers were under investigation for incidents at the time. Tsunoda’s race engineer Richard Wood originally advised him to stay close to the cars ahead in order to take advantage of any possible penalties.
“Liam [Lawson], two cars ahead of you, is under investigation so he may get a penalty,” said Wood at one stage. He added later: “This is the final lap, keep it tight, keep it tight. We will finish under the Safety Car but keep it tight in case there’s penalties ahead.”
However at turn 17 on the final lap Wood gave Tsunoda a different instruction, telling him to “drop back to eight car lengths behind Bearman, please.”
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F1’s rules state drivers must remain within 10 car lengths of the car ahead during Safety Car periods. Red Bull likely felt eight car lengths was the furthest they could risk telling Tsunoda to drop back without falling foul of the rules.
Tsunoda was baffled by the late change in instructions, asking Wood: “What? What?” on his radio. “I’ll explain in the garage, I’ll explain in the garage,” Wood reassured him.
“You mean like make a gap or what? To the car in front?” Tsunoda continued.
As he drove back in Tsunoda complained about the “terrible” communication at the end of the race. “Yeah, the request came late, I’ll explain in the garage,” Wood replied.
“Did I do the right thing or what, did I do the right thing?” Tsunoda asked. “Yes you did, thank you very much,” Wood replied.
If Red Bull hoped to minimise the impact of Verstappen’s penalty by telling Tsunoda to drop back, it made little difference. The 10-second penalty dropped Verstappen from fourth to 17th in the initial classification. However the stewards are yet to announce the outcome of investigations into other drivers which could further alter the classification.
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This article will be updated.
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