Yuki Tsunoda endured one of the most unusual technical issues seen this season as his Dutch Grand Prix unravelled in the closing stages. The Japanese driver was stuck in an errant throttle map due to an error he made when leaving the pit lane. Despite salvaging ninth place and his first points since Imola, the Japanese driver left Zandvoort frustrated at what might have been.
Team principal Laurent Mekies explained the mishap in stark terms: “We were locked into the wrong map after the final stop. He basically drove the final part with a really, really not friendly throttle map.”
The issue arose on lap 54, when Tsunoda entered the pits from 13th place. As is routine, his engineer instructed him to switch into launch mode — “strat 12” — for the pit lane entry, with a reminder to revert to “strat 11” after the stop. Tsunoda, however, did not switch back quickly enough, and the car became locked in launch mode for the remainder of the race.
“Party modes” banned by FIA
F1 drivers used to have a range of engine maps available to then when racing, but al this changed in 2020 following the so called “party modes” used by Mercedes in qualifying. These extreme performance modes could only be used for a very short time, otherwise they wold affect the reliability and longevity of the power unit.
The drivers are now locked in to their engine modes with the exception of when they are in the pit lane, during wet races or when the car oil stationary with the engine turned off. The drivers do not only engage the pit lane speed limiter when entering the pits, but they switch their engine modes to ensure they get a consistent get away after being serviced. But they need to return it to race mode before exiting the pit lane.
In Tsunoda’s case, the car remained in the launch configuration once he returned to the track, with throttle response heavily compromised. “You do not have power until 40% throttle,” his engineer radioed. “It’s a very flat pedal map. We cannot fix it on track. Try and get used to it under the safety car just now.”
Tsunoda ‘forgot’ to switch modes
Visibly agitated, Tsunoda fiddled with his rotary switch in vain. “I don’t have power,” he complained, before being told bluntly that the problem was locked in until the chequered flag. From that point, the Red Bull’s throttle delivered almost nothing between 15% and 40% pedal travel, leaving Tsunoda to nurse his car through an unorthodox and frustrating final stint.
Despite the handicap, Tsunoda battled through to ninth, just over four seconds behind Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin. His engineer congratulated him afterwards: “That wasn’t easy, that last stint without throttle shift. You did a really good job learning in the safety car.”
The driver, though, was less impressed. “At some point the safety car was faster than my car,” he fumed. “Our team did a fantastic job to minimise the damage, but the car lost a lot of performance. I was in P11 at one point, so to finish P9 was a good execution. But still, it was not easy.”
Verstappen’s team mate resolved
Red Bull boss says Tsunoda “unlucky”
Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies suggested that under normal circumstances Tsunoda would have been in contention for seventh, ahead of Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli. “Yuki was a bit unfortunate with the first safety car timing,” he said. “He was one of two cars, along with Charles [Leclerc], who had pitted before. He lost four or five positions just because everybody else got a cheap stop. Honestly, there is not much you can say on the pace, because he was probably glued in traffic for most of the race.”
For Tsunoda, the consolation was that the points ended a barren run stretching back to May. “Normally P9 doesn’t feel special, but today it gives me confidence for the future,” he said. “Nothing went my way — the safety cars, the timing, then the throttle issue. But I still scored points. That is something.”
Only in Formula One could a driver be defeated not by his rivals but by his own launch settings. Tsunoda’s plight reads like a comedy of errors: he left the pits armed with the electronic equivalent of a sledgehammer, a throttle map optimised for rocket starts and absolutely hopeless for 18 laps of racing. From that moment, he was less a Red Bull driver and more a reluctant participant in an automotive trust exercise.
Yuki’s triumph eclipsed by Hadjar brilliance
The engineers’ instructions — “You have no power until 40% throttle, try to get used to it” — sound less like Formula One radio chatter and more like advice for a bad rental car. Imagine being told at 200mph that your accelerator pedal is essentially decorative for the first third of its travel, and then being asked to “adapt.” Tsunoda did adapt, grimly, but it is no wonder he snapped that even the safety car looked quicker.
The irony is that Tsunoda drove well enough to score points despite this bizarre handicap. In doing so, he gave Red Bull a reminder of his resilience at a time when his future is already decided. Internally, the team has confirmed he will leave at the end of the year, yet here he was at Zandvoort dragging a broken set-up into the top 10. Perhaps if Red Bull really wanted to test Verstappen’s teammates, they should simply lock them all into “launch mode” and see who still scores points.
Tsunoda’s return to the points should have been something worth rejoicing in, but meanwhile in the sister Red Bull car Isack Hadjar was working miracles. The French-Algerian rookie qualified his Racing Bull in fourth place, a position he retained despite determined challenges from both Russell and Leclerc.
The icing on the cake for Hadjar was to come at Lando Norris great expense, as his McLaren ground to a halt with a handful of racing laps remaining. This promoted the rookie Racing Bull driver to a podium finish, something the team last achieved as AlphaTauri with Pierre Gasly at the 2021 Azerbaijan GP.
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It appeared the summer break had rejuvenated Hamilton, who is having a difficult year adapting to his new Ferrari team. The contrast between the team’s two drivers after qualifying in Zandvoort, couldn’t have been more extreme. “I’m very disappointed with myself, to be honest. I haven’t done the job today and I’ve been very poor,” Leclerc told Sky Sports.
“The whole weekend has been a little bit on the back foot on my side. I’ve been trying to change and to chase something that maybe wasn’t in the car this weekend for one reason or another,” he concluded. With the Monegasque set to start in sixth place, Hamilton had aquitted himself well in qualifying with a Q3 time just half a tenth slower than his team mate…. READ MORE
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