Tsunoda admits missing out on Miami point ‘really tough’ to take as De Vries explains Turn 1 clash with Norris

Yuki Tsunoda was left to rue his point-scoring run coming to an end at the Miami Grand Prix, having “given it everything” en route to 11th position, while AlphaTauri team mate Nyck de Vries had to settle for 18th after contact on the first lap.

Now contesting his third F1 season, Tsunoda opened his account for 2023 with a run to 10th at the third round in Australia, before backing it up with the same result in Azerbaijan.

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However, despite a charging drive from 17th on the grid at the Miami International Autodrome, the Japanese racer fell 1.364 seconds short of extending the sequence, crossing the line with Haas’ Kevin Magnussen in his sights.

“Yeah, really tough – I literally gave it everything,” said Tsunoda, who faced a battle in the closing lap to keep Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll at bay. “I was pretty happy with the performance. It’s a shame that I couldn’t score points, but yeah, [I’m] happy with it.”

Asked if he’s taking confidence from his encouraging start to the campaign, which now features two 10th-place finishes and three 11th-place finishes, he added: “It’s good that I’m being consistent and hopefully I can be consistently in the points [in the future].”

Meanwhile, after his nightmare Baku weekend, De Vries appeared to turn a corner during qualifying in Miami as he outpaced Tsunoda for the first time this season en route to 15th.

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However, his hard work was undone on the opening lap when he locked up under braking for Turn 1 and slid into the rear of McLaren’s Lando Norris, compromising both of their races.

“Obviously Lando had a very good start alongside me and we were approaching Turn 1 very quickly,” said De Vries, who continued to log 18th at the chequered flag. “He just got in front of me and I just simply locked up and we touched and ran wide.

“From that point you’re obviously far behind, on the back foot, and without a Safety Car [being deployed] it’s hard to catch up those gaps.

“It was quite lonely [after that]. There was little tyre degradation, so lap times were improving all the time. I was just looking after the front and that was pretty much it.”

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AlphaTauri are ninth in the constructors’ standings heading to their first home race of the season, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, with Williams propping up the rear.