Yuki Tsunoda has conceded he is “still upset” nearly a fortnight on from what he feels was a “quite harsh” penalty during the Spanish Grand Prix.
AlphaTauri driver Tsunoda was left fuming after the race at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya for collecting a five-second time penalty that knocked him out of a ninth-place finish down to 12th.
The incident saw Tsunoda defend vigorously into Turn 1 from Zhou in his Alfa Romeo, with the Chinese driver marginally in front of his Japanese rival as they approached Turn 2.
Despite the two cars a considerable distance apart, Zhou headed for the run-off area through Turn 2.
On-board footage even showed Tsunoda steering away from a potential collision, yet the stewards deemed him to be at fault for forcing another driver off track.
At the time, an angry Tsunoda said: “I feel like he (Zhou) just gave it up in the early stages and he pretended he got forced out.”
Speaking in Montréal ahead of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Tsunoda continues to feel aggrieved.
“I’m still upset with it but you cannot change anything,” said the 23-year-old.
“In the end, that’s what the FIA decided. Actually, we spoke with the FIA (on Thursday) to understand their perspective.”
Insisting he will not “change any approach”, he added: “In the end, I will try as much as possible to defend, within the limit.
“I thought it was within the limit but it was not. It was using too much and you cannot defend.
“There’s room that I can improve in any situation. At the same time, I feel a similar mindset to after the race – I felt (the penalty was) quite harsh.
“In the end, it is what it is, and I just have to accept it.”
The stewards’ decision in Spain means Tsunoda is now on a run of three races without a point after a pair of back-to-back 10th-placed finishes in Australia and Azerbaijan.
Tsunoda feels there has been an improvement from AlphaTauri following a very underwhelming start to the season.
As to whether he can get back into the points in Canada, he said: “Yeah, I think so.
“Especially race pace, we’ve been consistently positive this year, so I will try to maximise that.
“One of our limitations now is qualifying, trying to extract as much as possible to end up in as high a position as possible, to make it slightly easier than starting P15 or whatever. That’s probably our main challenge for this week.
“But I’m feeling positive. It’s a bumpy track, which is not too bad. Monaco, we performed quite well, so I’m feeling optimistic.”
Referencing the rain forecast for the weekend, Tsunoda added: “I’ll try my best. I think the weather will be a slight game-changer and affect our strategy and pace, so we will see how it goes.”
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