F1’s Yuki Tsunoda Says ‘I’m Not Trusting the FIA’

The AlphaTauri driver already has four reprimands this season, and one more will result in a 10-place grid penalty.

Yuki Tsunoda revealed how he feels about Formula One’s governing body, the FIA, after it clarified a change to the rules following the Monaco Grand Prix. 

Ferrari filed two protests against Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez for alleged pit exit infractions, which the FIA later rejected. Drivers previously could not cross the pit lane line at all, but now, they can cross the line as long as the tires don’t completely go beyond it. 

Tsunoda received two penalties during the Austrian Grand Prix last season for crossing the pit lane entry line, and the AlphaTauri driver said, per Motorsport.com, that this shows inconsistency in how rules are being applied. He was asked about the change in stance. 

“I’m not trusting the FIA. Every time it’s super inconsistent. I got already four reprimands, and the last time in Monaco, I still don’t know why,” Tsunoda said, per motorsport.com. “I mean, it’s not good to say what other drivers were doing, but other drivers were doing even worse things and they don’t have any investigation, whereas other races [the FIA] were suddenly getting strict or something like that.

“So probably if someone cross the white line there would be a penalty for some races. For me, I’ll just stick to what the regulation [says] or just the safest as much as possible to not get in any trouble. So I don’t think that, ‘okay, Max and Checo were crossing the line last time in Monaco so we can do it.’ I think every time it is different.”