Yuki Tsunoda had a grand Prix to forget in Monaco as a collision with Pierre Gasly and an unsuccessful strategy contributed to him finishing the weekend with zero points for the fourth time this season.
Since his promotion from Racing Bulls to the senior Red Bull team at the beginning of April, the Japanese driver has three points finishes to his name, though his flashes of potential have not been as consistent as he or the team would like.
His learning curve continued as he was knocked out in Q2 in Monaco amid extremely tight competition. Although he found himself in the top 10 in the first part of Qualifying, he missed out on repeating this feat by 0.683s and ultimately lined up in P12 on the grid.
On race day, Red Bull risked an alternative strategy as they pitted Tsunoda under the early Virtual Safety Car while Gabriel Bortoleto got back on track after finding the wall, which dropped the former down the order to P17.
Tsunoda became part of the long train of cars that were lapped by the frontrunners
Before he could make any attempt to progress through the field, Tsunoda was struck from behind by Gasly’s Alpine, which had suffered a brake failure and drove straight into the Red Bull’s right-rear wheel.
The incident prompted the 25-year-old to question: “Is he an idiot? What is he doing?” over the radio, but there was no visible damage to the RB21. Gasly, on the other hand, snapped his suspension and limped back to the pits as the first retirement of the race.
This marked the second time that the two former team mates have clashed on track in the 2025 campaign, with the first occurring in a failed overtake attempt at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
2025 Monaco Grand Prix: Gasly out of the race after crashing into Tsunoda
Tsunoda later said: “The impact... I don’t know if I had damage or not but it was all right. It’s not great, but at least I was able to finish the laps so fortunately it was not big.”
“Teams played around with the strategy as I expected. If you’re driving from P12, there’s not much you can do. I had to qualify better.”
With the circuit’s notorious lack of overtaking opportunities and the comprehensive range of strategies playing out, he was unable to benefit from the early tyre switch and his second mandatory stop, which was not completed until Lap 76, sealed his 17th place finish at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Tsunoda claimed the unfortunate record of being the only driver in the Red Bull family who didn't score points in Monte Carlo, but he will have a chance to bounce back in the final stage of the triple header this coming weekend in Barcelona.
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