Yuki Tsunoda says he had "a good chat" with Red Bull a day after he was inadvertently involved in an incident with the latter's drivers in qualifying in Mexico City.
In the final Q3 Saturday shootout, Tsunoda deliberately ran off track at the Turn 10/11 complex of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez to put himself out of the way of charging bulls Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen who were both on their final hot lap in the all-important session.
The Mexican was distracted by Tsunoda's move and also ran off track while a cloud of dust encouraged Verstappen to lift, which undermined the Dutchman's flyer for pole position.
After the session, an annoyed Christian Horner said that Red Bull's drivers had been "Tsunoda'd". But AlphaTauri team boss Franz Tost defended the Japanese driver, insisting he had done all that he could to steer clear of the oncoming bulls.
Ahead of this weekend's Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Tsunoda said that he had spoken to Red Bull's chiefs in Mexico, adding that his team had absolved him of any responsibility in the mishap.
©AlphaTauri
"Yeah, we spoke lots of times about the Q3," Tsunoda said. "The engineers agree that I couldn't do anything more than really that in that situation.
"But also at the same time, we can clearly see that there's room that we have to learn about radio conversation.
"I think we have more information before that or if I'm asking for more information, I think we couldn't have that situation as well. It was just a really unfortunate situation.
"Also I spoke with Red Bull as well the day after and we had a good chat and I also heard that from their perspective about their Q3.
"So it was just unfortunate and we just have to learn from it and try not to do the same thing next time."
Unfortunately, race day in Mexico City delivered more hardship for the AlphaTauri rookie who started his race from P17, courtesy of an engine change and grid penalty, but retired on the opening lap following a contact in a melee with Alpine's Esteban Ocon.
After teammate Pierre Gasly concluded his race an impressive fourth, Tsunoda was upbeat about his team's chances of beating Alpine to fifth place in the Constructors' standings, with the two level currently in the championship.
"We know that especially from the second half of the season, we have a quicker car and we have confidence, and especially in Mexico we showed a good performance," Tsunoda said.
"Scoring good consistent points definitely helps for the team, and of course we are aiming for fifth in the championship as well.
"To achieve that every single race is going to count and definitely I need to help the team for that to be achieved.
"It will be tough especially for me. The only track I have previously driven is Abu Dhabi and there is the new format this weekend, and only one practice before going straight into qualifying, so it is not going to be easy.
"But we know we have a quicker car and a good car, we just have to put it all together."
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