Tsunoda finished 16th in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Saturday and just missed a place in the second quarter.
The Japanese driver was heard over team radio complaining about the car after his knockout in the first quarter before being told to calm down by his race engineer.
When asked about his qualifying bouts, Tsunoda said after practice that he had prepared the car as usual and felt that everything was in the right window for his final lap, which confuses him as to why he hadn’t advanced into the second quarter.
“No, I haven’t pushed the outlap too much. [I] Just like normal, ”Tsunoda told Sky Sports F1.
“The tire temperature is just right before the lap. I think the team we built we built the tire, but I don’t know. It’s not where I want to fight.
“With the performance in this car, getting to the second quarter is easy. I really struggled to get into the second quarter at all. “
Tsunoda went on to say that the characteristics of his AlphaTauri AT02 car seemed different from Gasly in the garage, who managed to qualify 12th in Spain.
Tsunoda stated that the feedback he gave was different from Gasly and left him a “question mark”.
Yuki Tsunoda, Alpha Tauri
Photo by: Mark Thompson / Getty Images
“The feedback is always different from that of my team-mate, even if we try the opposite,” said Tsunoda.
“I have a little question mark [if it] is the same car – of course it is the same car, but only the character of the car is just too different.
“Maybe it’s a different driving style, of course. But yeah I don’t know, I don’t understand what happened, why I struggle so much. “
The result was Tsunoda’s second Q1 exit in his four previous F1 races after crashing at Imola and being forced to start from the grid.
After an impressive debut in Bahrain, battling his way through to ninth place, Tsunoda has not scored any points since, finishing twelfth in Imola last week and 15th in Portugal.
