The illusion of the dot area
The weekend of Spanish Grand Prix it seemed to be heading in the right direction indoors Alpha Taurivery close to regaining the points zone for the first time since Baku and, once again, with Yuki Tsunoda. In reality, the Japanese driver actually crossed the finish line in 9th place, thus realizing his best performance of the season at the end of a race that saw him among the best on the track.
The penalty
However, the final and official classification of the race does not see the number 22 in the top ten, and therefore a points zone: the reason is directly connected to a 5 second penalty inflicted on the Japanese as a result of a defense maneuver deemed incorrect to the detriment of Guanyu Zhou. The Alfa Romeo driver, in an attempt to overtake his adversary entering turn 1, was in fact pushed to the outside by Tsunoda. For this reason, with the addition of 5 seconds on the race time, the Japanese was therefore relegated to 12th positionamidst the protests of the pilot himself, who did not accept the sentence at all: “I am very disappointed and frustrated – commented – I think the penalty that was imposed on me for forcing another rider off the track was very severe, but it’s something I have to accept. There was little space, but I still thought it was sufficient. On the positive side, the team did a fantastic job to improve the brake issues we had and put me in the fight for points over the last two race weekends. This shows that the car is getting better and that the hard work is paying off. The weekend is over and I’m looking forward to the next race in Canada”.
Tsunoda and Zhou go wheel to wheel around Turn 1
A five-second penalty resulted for Tsunoda after race stewards ruled the Japanese driver had forced Zhou off track#SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/GmxhKKx8gk
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 4, 2023
De Vries still out of the Top-10
Instead, the curse of the Top-10 continues for Nyck DeVries, still the only one, together with Logan Sargeant, not to have won any championship points in this championship after six races. In Barcelona, the Dutchman did not go beyond the 14th position: “Obviously, as a team, we wanted more – he has declared – even if i made a good start, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and got stuck inside, so we lost too many positions and got stuck behind other cars. We tried to undercut, but I struggled to pass and that cost me a lot of time. Some moments in the race were good and the last 25 laps on the medium compound were very competitive. This weekend has been competitive from the start so I think we are making progress with the car. Canada will be a different track, but I am confident we can build on our improvements and capitalize on every opportunity.”
#Tsunoda #doesnt #agree #Zhou #space #severe #penalty #FormulaPassion