Hiroki Tsunoda says it was “very aggravating” serving to Pink Bull teammate Max Verstappen to a vital pole place on the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Verstappen saved his title hopes alive by beating McLaren’s title rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to take pole place in qualifying for the ultimate race of the season, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The Dutchman’s bid for pole place was helped by Tsunoda, who was instructed by Pink Bull to slipstream Verstappen on the again straight on the primary lap of Q3.
Verstappen set sufficient time to take pole place, bettering his time on his ultimate run with out the assistance of Tsunoda, who had simply superior to the ultimate levels of qualifying.
“After that Antonelli crash, I had to return to the previous ground. To be trustworthy, the staff misplaced plenty of efficiency heading into qualifying due to that,” Tsunoda defined.
“So I anticipated it will be a troublesome qualifying to get previous Q3.
“Clearly the grasp plan was to get by the third quarter and assist Max.
“There have been moments the place I felt extra stress and stress once I helped tow him, as a result of I could not get too near Flip 5 or too far.
“Effectively, to be trustworthy, it was very aggravating. However not less than I did properly they usually gave me some compliments. So, yeah, I am going to take it.”
Tsunoda’s efforts had been praised by Pink Bull advisor Helmut Marko.
“Yuki was nice. The slipstream labored completely,” he instructed ServusTV. “So issues already appear to be getting higher once more.”
Tsunoda will ‘do every part doable’ to assist Verstappen
Verstappen is 12 factors away from Norris and desires the McLaren driver to complete fourth or higher and win Sunday’s race to assert a fifth consecutive drivers’ world title.
Irrespective of the place his rivals find yourself, a podium end means Norris shall be topped champion.
Requested if he might nonetheless play a task in serving to Verstappen win the championship towards the McLaren pair, Tsunoda replied:
“However, yeah, I am going to do every part I can to assist him. Possibly it can compromise my technique, however given his place and his ending, we nonetheless have an opportunity to win the championship.”
“Then I am going to do what I can. Sure, let’s have a look.”
Pink Bull have introduced that Isak Hajjar will substitute Tsunoda as Verstappen’s teammate subsequent season.
