Racing Bulls had a balance of opposites after the first day of the Spanish Grand Prix in Formula 1. Although Arvid Lindblad pointed to a positive day, even with the crash, Yuki Tsunoda admitted it was not perfect.
Read more F1: Red Bull ends first day in Madrid with positive feeling
The Brit was the one who caused the first red flag of the weekend in Madrid. In TL2, he hit the wall hard already in the second half of the session – even so, he finished with the fourth fastest time on the board. “It was a positive first day for us here in Madrid. It didn’t feel like a completely new experience for me, as I have gotten quite used to learning new tracks on Fridays this season. We showed good pace throughout the day and were quick on all the laps we completed in TL2,” he said.
“It was not a good feeling to end the session with a crash. It looked serious from the outside, but fortunately, the impact was not very strong and I am feeling very well. The car suffered some damage, so I apologize to the team for the extra work they will have tonight. Finishing 4th on my own merit is a great result and puts us in a good position for tomorrow. I will focus on ‘resetting’ tonight and making the most of today’s learning for qualifying,” he continued.
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The Japanese driver was the eighth fastest in Spain and showed he enjoyed the debut track on the calendar. “It was not a perfect day, but I really liked the new track; it is very fun to drive. Confidence is key here, so losing track time in TL1 was not ideal; also, I got a bit of traffic in TL2, which made things difficult. Overall, I have a good feeling with the car. We are building our pace session by session and now the focus is to put all the pieces together for tomorrow’s qualifying,” he pointed out.
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