Red Bull issues an apology to Yuki Tsunoda after the Japanese driver's qualifying was compromised by the team's strategy

Red Bull star Yuki Tsunoda was eliminated in SQ1 at the sprint qualifying at the 2025 US GP as he wasn't able to start a lap before the chequered flag dropped. Red Bull Team Principal Laurent Mekies came out and apologized to the Japanese driver for compromising his SQ1 run, which led to the elimination.

Yuki Tsunoda had a difficult start to his tenure at Red Bull, but seemingly found some pace after the summer break. Coming into the US GP, the Japanese driver is expected to at least make the final qualifying session. However, that was not the case for the sprint qualifying.

Yuki Tsunoda was the second car out on track in SQ1 as he wanted to get a lap early. After the first run in SQ1, Tsunoda was on the verge of getting eliminated, sitting in P13. For the final run, the Japanese driver was the last one to leave the pit lane with less than 2 minutes left on the clock.

AUTO: OCT 17 F1 United States Grand Prix - Source: Getty

As Tsunoda left the pit lane, he radioed the team, suggesting that he wasn't going to make the start/finish line in time to start a lap, and that is exactly what happened. With cars bunching up in the pitlane to get out at the optimal minute, as well as the traffic jam in the final corner, led to multiple drivers missing out on a final run in SQ1.

However, many behind Tsunoda were able to improve, which pushed him into the elimination zone, as the Red Bull driver will start the race in P18. Red Bull Team Principal Laurent Mekies came out after the sprint qualifying and apologized to Yuki Tsunoda.

“Yeah, we got it wrong, honestly. We apologize to Yuki. The program was a bit too tight. It was a choice between staying out and cooling down on track or trying to cool down a bit better in the garage, which we thought we would have the time to do - come back into the garage and get out again - but it was only possible for a few cars to do that, and we missed the cut. So we owe Yuki an apology there,” said Laurent Mekies (via Sky Sports F1)

---

Yuki Tsunoda's reaction to the SQ1 exit at the 2025 US GP

F1 Grand Prix of United States - Practice & Sprint Qualifying - Source: Getty

Yuki Tsunoda was visibly frustrated with the team's strategic decisions at the US GP Sprint qualifying, and he expressed the same on the radio after failing to advance from the SQ1 session. During the post-race interviews, the Japanese driver reacted to his elimination as he said,

“The timing of the garage exit was not even close. I don't know what's happened there, to be honest. Something went wrong and we didn't have any opportunity to do [a] laptime, so [it was a] shame. Very frustrating. It's not a thing I can control, to be honest, or we can control. But it was more up to them [the team] than myself, managing the timing. So it's pretty shocking.”

It's unlikely that Tsunoda will get up into the points in tomorrow's sprint race since he's starting near the back, with no pit stops expected for the shorter sprint race.

Edited by Pranay Bhagi