Tsunoda receives 10-place penalty for overtaking under red flag in FP3

Yuki Tsunoda will start from the back of the grid on Sunday after receiving a 10-place penalty for overtaking Oscar Piastri under red flag conditions during free practice 3. A sanction that compromises the Red Bull driver’s race in a Grand Prix where George Russell will start from pole position ahead of Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri.

The Japanese driver was already in trouble this weekend in Montreal. Twentieth and last in FP3 with a time more than two seconds off Lando Norris’s fastest lap, Tsunoda had missed a large portion of the session due to brake issues on his car. When he was finally able to return to the track in the closing minutes, he failed to improve his position in the standings.

The context of the penalty

The sanctioned incident occurred after Piastri’s crash at the Wall of Champions. The Australian’s McLaren had hit the barriers on the exit of Turn 14, damaging the right rear wheel and the suspension. The red flag was waved when Tsunoda was at Turn 6.

According to the commissioners’ report, Tsunoda did slow down at that moment, but it was on the back straight where he made the fatal error. The driver of car 22 stated that he saw car 81 driving slowly on the left side of the track with obvious damage. He said he was worried about being hit by debris from car 81 and decided to overtake, explains the FIA in its statement.

Telemetry reveals that Piastri was driving at 86 km/h when Tsunoda overtook him at 171 km/h. For the stewards, this justification does not hold: « Although car 81 had an obvious problem, it was not driving at a speed that prevented car 22 from following it at a safe distance. »

This penalty comes with two points on his license. Gabriel Bortoleto, also summoned for a similar incident with Oliver Bearman, escaped without sanction. The stewards judged that the Sauber driver did everything possible to avoid the overtaking in circumstances where the speed difference made the maneuver inevitable.

In qualifying, Tsunoda finished eleventh, eliminated in Q2. With his penalty, he is expected to start from the last row on Sunday, leaving Max Verstappen alone to defend Red Bull’s colors from the second position on the grid.