F1 News: Yuki Tsunoda Faces Further Disappointment After Post-Race Penalty

The Japanese driver isn't having a positive start to the 2024 season.

Experiencing a challenging start to the 2024 season in Bahrain, Yuki Tsunoda faces further disappointment after he received a five-second penalty during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix for an unsafe release from the garage into the path of Lando Norris as he headed out for his pre-race reconnaissance lap.

Key Takeaways:

• Yuki Tsunoda faced further disappointment in the 2024 F1 season after receiving a five-second penalty for an unsafe garage release during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, adding to his challenging start.
• While Red Bull excelled with 1-2 finishes, their junior team, VCARB, struggled to score points, with Tsunoda finishing P15 and teammate Daniel Ricciardo P16 in Jeddah.
• Despite the penalty, Tsunoda avoided receiving a super license penalty point, with stewards considering the circumstances and opting not to impose additional sanctions beyond the time penalty.

While Red Bull exhibited a 1-2 finish in both Grands Prix of the 2024 season, its junior team Visa Cash App RB, best known as VCARB, has been struggling to finish within points. 

Teammate Daniel Ricciardo, who Tsunoda had a moment of altercation with after being asked to follow team orders in Bahrain, finished P16 in Jeddah, while the Japanese driver's position fell by one spot to P15 below Williams driver Logan Sargeant. 

Fortunately, though, he managed to avoid receiving a super license penalty point commonly issued in such cases by the stewards. Here's what the report from the Stewards stated:

“The stewards reviewed video, team radio and in-car video evidence and heard from the drivers and team representatives of Car 22 and Car 4 and determined that Car 22 was released unsafely from the garage during the reconnaissance lap into the path of Car 4 which had to take evasive action to avoid a collision.

“The driver of Car 22 admitted that he did not see the Number 1 in his team signalling not to come out as his attention was diverted towards exiting the car from the garage. He apologised for his oversight.

“An unsafe release during the race (which would include the reconnaissance lap) would typically attract a five-second time penalty, which is what we imposed. In addition, for an infringement of this nature, it would be appropriate to award one penalty point.

“Given that this took place during the reconnaissance lap as opposed to the race proper, we decided to not impose the penalty point.”

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