Explained: Why Yuki Tsunoda was given a second 10-second penalty in the F1 Brazilian GP

Yuki Tsunoda was the last driver in the field to take the checkered flag at the Brazilian GP, which was down to his 20-second worth of penalties that he had accumulated. While the Japanese driver was handed a 10-second penalty for his collision with Lance Stroll, he also faced another penalty of the same severity for a different offence.

On lap 6, Tsunoda had tagged the rear end of Stroll's Aston Martin and had sent him spinning around. This led stewards to issue him a 10-second penalty for causing a collision with another driver.

So, when the 25-year-old came into the pits for his next pit stop, he had to serve this penalty by staying stationary in his pit box with no member from the team allowed to touch any part of the car. However, that's where the root cause of his second 10-second penalty lies.

His left rear wheel gun operator had begun working on the car as soon as it came to a stop, forgetting about the penalty that Tsunoda had to serve. So, the Japanese driver was then slammed with another 10-second penalty for the team's failure to properly serve a penalty during a pit stop.

This left his race way beyond salvageable, and he finished a dismal 17th, the lowest among all the drivers that took the checkered flag.

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Yuki Tsunoda rues his outing in Brazil

Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda at the 2025 F1 Grand Prix of Brazil race weekend - Source: Getty

Yuki Tsunoda is in a fight for survival at Red Bull. The Austrian giant soon has to make up its mind on whether to keep the 25-year-old on the team or give any of its other drivers a chance to get behind the wheel of the RB22 next year.

So, at such a time, Tsunoda wants to move up the order and fight for the top-running positions like Max Verstappen, instead of being in a brawl for the wooden spoon.

However, his hopes came crashing down in Interlagos, where he was knocked out in both SQ1 and Q1 and finished the race down in 17th. Reflecting on the torrid weekend he has had, the Japanese driver said in the post-race interview:

"It's a shame about the contact. I didn't notice even that I had contact. So I don't know, it must be by foul or whatever. I'm sorry for him." "Literally nothing. Nothing worked this weekend, if something works, something didn't work at the same time. One of the worst weekend. I don't know why, but just struggled with the grip overall. That's it."

Meanwhile, Yuki Tsunoda has mustered only 28 points during the 2025 season, out of which only 25 points have helped Red Bull's constructors' championship tally. So, he has three more race weekends to prove his worth to the Red Bull hierarchy, else, he might be facing the exit door at Milton Keynes.

Edited by Geetansh Pasricha