Yuki Tsunoda labels collision with Gasly ‘a great shame’ after Red Bull racer misses out on vital learning in Saudi Arabian GP

Yuki Tsunoda reflected that “I don’t think I could have done better” to avoid contact with Pierre Gasly on the opening lap of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – the incident having eliminated both drivers from the race.

As the field raced from Turn 3 to Turn 4 of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit at the start of Sunday’s encounter, Alpine driver Gasly made an audacious passing attempt around the outside of Tsunoda’s Red Bull in a battle over eighth position.

While overtakes are sometimes seen on the inside of the narrow left-hander, even then it is not regarded as a common place to make progress, with the walls closing on both sides and the track immediately switching back to the right.

2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix: Verstappen leads on the race start as Tsunoda and Gasly collision brings out the Safety Car

“For me, it’s just a racing incident,” said Tsunoda after the former team mates came to blows and slid into the concrete wall. “I don’t think I could have done better than that, to be honest.

“I tried my best to avoid [him] as much as I can, but also, in that kind of space, it’s really hard to avoid [contact]. I don’t know what I can do other than that.

“We kind of knew each other, and if you try to go outside from there... other than he goes half of the car at least on the white line, it would have [been a] collision. It’s a great shame.”

Asked if both he and Gasly needed to be “more friendly” to each other with the field so congested at the start of the race, Tsunoda added: “Well, yeah... I don’t know what I should do.

Tsunoda brands his Lap 1 clash with Gasly ‘a racing incident’

“I was behind [Carlos] Sainz, I was fully in control in terms of speed, it was not like I was nearly crashing into Carlos in front. It’s hard to justify which is wrong or better.”

Tsunoda was completing his third race weekend for Red Bull after replacing Liam Lawson ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix. Since the move, he has scored only two championship points – these through finishing ninth in Bahrain – compared to the 51 of team mate Max Verstappen.

Aware of the pressure that can quickly build with sub-optimal results, Tsunoda said: “Every lap for me is very important at this kind of time. It’s still the third race and every lap counts to learn something, and it’s a shame that something happened like this at this stage.”