Yuki Tsunoda has revealed exactly what happened during the Styrian Grand Prix to prevent AlphaTauri from scoring more points.
After the first of two races at the Red Bull Ring, Tsunoda said that it was actually a misinterpreted message over the team radio that brought about their bad luck on Sunday.
The Japanese driver managed to land 1 point in the race, after being handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas.
He confirmed that crossed wires were to blame and said; “It was a good step from last week [France] but to be honest there was another way to finish… the race and to be honest it was potentially P8 or P9 I would say but yes, have to analyse the data with the team.
“We also misunderstood a couple of things on the radio and that didn’t work well in the end.
“We have to really communicate about the radio because, to be honest, the pace I was pushing at was not the right pace.”
Tsunoda went on to say that there was plenty of arguing over the team radio, as they continued to misunderstand one another at vital points of the race.
“I was thinking I should manage the tyre but on the engineering side, they said I had to push. It was 50/50 and we were arguing on the radio. We have to analyse the data and see what’s there”, he said.
“I think we have to prepare for next week”.
The AlphaTauri rookie heads into round nine of the season with 9 points, while teammate Pierre Gasly is eighth in the standings with 37 points as he battles it out at the top of the midfield.
The AlphaTauri team is fifth in the Constructor’s standings – placing them ahead of Aston Martin and Alpine.
Proceedings kick off this Friday with Free Practice at 10:30 am Irish time at the Red Bull Ring.
