The Red Bulls had a very successful Spanish Grand Prix last weekend. However, it was not the same case for their sister team. Alpha Tauri had another pointless weekend despite the brave efforts of Yuki Tsunoda to fight off his rivals.
Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda was handed a 5-second penalty for forcing another driver out of the track. On lap 59/66, Yuki Tsunoda was defending against the Alfa Romeo of Zhou Guanyu. Zhou was overly cautious while going for the overtake into turn 1 and decided to take the escape road. The stewards felt that Zhou was pushed off the track by Tsunoda and gave him a 5-second penalty for the Spanish Grand Prix.
Yuki Tsunoda after Spanish GP pic.twitter.com/wsLpsKD8Xt
— I’m ED (@Im_ED__) June 4, 2023
Tsunoda went on to finish the race in 8th place but would drop down to 12th due to the penalty. For a team like Alpha Tauri, every single point matters. They are involved in a low-scoring battle against McLaren, Haas, and Alpine.
What happened during the incident?
While Zhou Guanyu was going for the overtake outside of Yuki Tsunoda into turn 1, he discovered that there was not enough room so decided to take the escape road. Zhou seemed to be overly cautious during the incident. There was no contact between the 2 cars, and Yuki felt he left enough space for Zhou given that Tsunoda was the car ahead at the time.
Again, Yuki Tsunoda penalty is beyond ridiculous:
– Zhou wasn’t even half car in front
– They didn’t touch
– Yuki stick to the racing line
– Zhou stay comfortably behind him without any harm
– Yuki now out of the points…What the fuck he should do? #F1 #Formula1 #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/DqLp3jfIdF
— F1newsletter.com (@F1_Newsletter) June 4, 2023
Yuki Tsnunoda started the race in P15 and was able to fight his way to P8 before the penalty was handed out. He had a very impressive race. Tsunoda’s season so far has been the best so far in his career. He has bested his teammate in every race. He was on track to get points in the Monaco Grand Prix as well until he started experiencing brake issues which saw him out of the points.
Zhou Guanyu was long the radio saying he was pushed off the track. Even the commentators were surprised by the penalty given to Yuki Tsunoda.
Fans react to the penalty received by Yuki Tsunoda
Here are some of the reactions from the fans to Yuki Tsunoda’s penalty:
girls do not want boyfriends they want yuki tsunoda to get the points that he deserves pic.twitter.com/1fa1TMGsKv
— 🍊🐉 (@craigbowkeyjr) June 4, 2023
me on my way to the F1 officials to become yuki tsunoda’s lawyer after his penalty
pic.twitter.com/hL3P9SuHy1— saff (@lovepiastri) June 4, 2023
I agree with him, there was space but zhou decided to go in the runoff area (he didn’t want to take unnecessary risks and he is right to do so) tsunoda gave space
— Azzouz Marley (@othoudazz) June 4, 2023
he didn’t have to take risks he just didn’t want to touch the brakes to stay on the track
nonsense penalty
Did Yuki even have any more turn radius??
— scott holyk (@ScottHolyk) June 5, 2023
Unfair is not enough to describe what that penalty was, I like Zhou a lot but that was just being dramatic
— AL | (@formula_al) June 4, 2023
Max Verstappen made a similar move on Carlos Sainz in the opening lap but was not even noted by the stewards. Yuki said that the penalty given was “very harsh”. Fan sympathized with him. Yuki was even seen laying on the ground in disappointment after the race.