Explained: Why Red Bull issued an apology to Yuki Tsunoda after the F1 Las Vegas GP qualifying

Red Bull Racing boss Laurent Mekies has issued an apology to Yuki Tsunoda for the Las Vegas Grand Prix qualifying after the driver was knocked out in Q1 on Friday. Mekies revealed that the Austrian team made an error with the tire pressures on Tsunoda's car, leading to his early exit.

After what has been a tough stint with Red Bull in recent weeks, Yuki Tsunoda was looking relatively better during Thursday's practice at the Las Vegas GP. The Japanese driver came third in FP1, setting a good pace early on in the weekend.

But things did not quite pan out on Friday for Tsunoda as he was knocked out yet again in the first part of qualifying and will start Saturday's race from P19. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen in the other car will start on the front row.

But the Red Bull team clarified what went wrong with Tsunoda during qualifying, explaining that it was a team error rather than driver error that led to his Q1 exit. Team boss Laurent Mekies explained that the team made a "big mistake" with the tire pressures on Tsunoda's RB21.

Mekies also issued an apology to the driver.

"We made quite big mistakes with his tyre pressures. These things obviously should not happen. Apologies to Yuki, he was in good rhythm all weekend and it's really painful to take this chance away from him," said Mekies.

Yuki Tsunoda has failed to score points in four of the last six race weekends. His only points in that period came from a P6 finish in Baku, which was his best result of the season, followed by P7 finishes in both the sprint and the main race at the US GP.

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Yuki Tsunoda reflects on tough outing during the Las Vegas GP qualifying

Yuki Tsunoda during qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Yuki Tsunoda simply claimed that "something was missing" during qualifying for the Las Vegas GP that led to his Q1 exit. He also explained that he experienced a lack of grip in his RB21 during the session.

Speaking after the session on Friday, Tsunoda did not have too much to say about his performance, but revealed that he was struggling with grip.

"Very tough, I don't know, I just felt clearly something was missing. For me, for our side of the garage, especially missing something (with the) grip. So yeah, very strange. I was really struggling a lot," said Tsunoda. [via Red Bull Racing on Instagram]

Tsunoda told the media that he felt quick and on pace all weekend up until qualifying, where the car felt as if it was driving on ice amid the wet conditions. He now faces a mountain to climb in the race as he tries to fight through the field from the last row of the grid alongside Lewis Hamilton.

Edited by Mitali