Yuki Tsunoda relegated to the back of the grid for Red Bull's technical infringement

Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda will start the 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix from the pit lane after taking a new engine component for the main race. The Japanese driver had a poor qualifying on Saturday as he could only manage P16 and went out of the Q1 session.

Both the 25-year-old and his teammate, Max Verstappen, have consistently complained of the balance issues with the RB21 throughout the weekend. He was competitive against his teammate in the Free Practice session and managed to replicate the same over one lap.

As reported by F1 pundit Chris Medland on his social media platform X, the Austrian team decided to break the parc ferme and put in a new ICE in the back of his RB21.

The engine component is his fifth of the year, one more than the allotted four for a season. Starting from the pit lane will also provide opportunities for the Red Bull driver to make ground on the field and avoid the melee of the start.

Yuki Tsunoda reflects on his difficult qualifying session

Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda stated that he was frustrated by the car's lack of performance around the iconic Hungaroring circuit, which cost him time over one lap.

As per F1.com, the Japanese driver reflected on his P16 finish and said:

“It's been a frustrating weekend so far for the Team. We've struggled to find pace and the lack of grip cost us time. My team are trying to find the solution, but we just haven't yet. Personally, I can feel reasonable about my performance in Qualifying, I've stayed close to Max all weekend and that’s a positive for myself. "I didn't make any mistakes in the session and I only missed out on Q2 by a few milliseconds which, unfortunately, is how it has been lately. We'll see about tomorrow, it's not easy to overtake here but anything can happen with mixed conditions expected. All I can do is keep pushing.”

Red Bull team principal and CEO Laurent Mekies complimented Yuki Tsunoda's performance as he mentioned the gap to Verstappen and added:

"Yuki was knocked out of Q1 by only a couple of hundredths, and he was actually quite close to Max in both his runs, but we just didn’t have performance in the car. Max made it quite impressively through to Q3, despite our struggles and where he qualified is probably a true picture of where we are this weekend so far."

Yuki Tsunoda is still searching to end his points drought with the Austrian team, given his last points finish came in the Bahrain GP earlier in the year. He has only scored seven points since joining the Milton Keynes-based outfit in his home race in Suzuka.

Edited by pranavsethii