Yuki Tsunoda cast a frustrated figure after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, giving it his all to score a top-ten finish that alluded the AlphaTauri driver just four laps from the checkered flag.
Tsunoda started his race from P16 and made steady progress through the field to run as high as 6th before his switch from the medium to the hard tyre on lap 17.
Thereafter, the Japanese charger could do little to fend off the two Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly which set him back to 10th in the running order.
Tsunoda appeared solidly anchored to that position, but a late tussle with Haas' Kevin Magnussen concluded at the advantage of the Dane who thus snatched the final point from the AlphaTauri driver.
"I gave my 100% effort every lap, and still couldn’t [retain P10]," commented a disappointed Tsunoda after his race.
"Lost positions like that in the end in the last four laps, so I’m just really frustrated."
©AlphaTauri
Tsunoda said his car's lack of top-speed on the straights and downforce in certain fast corners had sealed his fate, even despite his efforts in Jeddah's first sector to try and eke out a gap that would allow him to remain ahead for the remainder of the lap. To no avail unfortunately.
"I think there’s frustration for all of us," he explained. "At least I gave every effort, and at least I was able to extract the performance from the car as much as possible, and fighting close to the points.
"So at least I gave excitement to the team. That’s really positive. Hopefully we can develop through the year and I can score points at some point as soon as possible."
©AlphaTauri
Overall, Tsunoda was somewhat positively surprised by his car's pace in Jeddah.
"Definitely we didn’t expect that pace," he said. "I expected much worse than that. So good job from also the engineers and mechanics. Just need a couple of tenths, at least, every lap.
"If I keep fighting like this, I think there’s at some point a big chance, more than this one. So if that happens, I’ve just got to maximise that opportunity.
"Until then, I just wait and extract from the car like this performance as much as possible."
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