Yuki Tsunoda: We lacked speed on the straights

In Saturday’s sprint at Spielberg, AlpahTauri scored no points with Yuki Tsunoda and Nick de Vries in sixteenth and seventeenth respectively. Team drivers complained about the car’s lack of speed.

Yuki Tsunoda (16th): “I don’t know what to say about qualifying for the sprint – we just didn’t have the pace. I took every opportunity, but my lap time was cut because I had gone just a few millimeters beyond the limits of the track, which is very disappointing.

In the sprint I was only sixteenth. It was hard and we couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t squeeze the maximum out of the car and I wasn’t performing at full power myself – especially on the straights we lacked speed.

The speed on the intermediate tires was normal, but on the drying track we were too slow. The same problems occurred on other circuits, so we will take into account the experience gained and turn our attention to tomorrow’s race. The fight is still tight, so everything has to be done perfectly. You never know what could happen.”

Nick deVries (17th): “The start of qualifying for the sprint turned out to be good – the car was running better than yesterday, but I had no luck at the end of the second session. Before the last corner I was in heavy traffic, which led to a bit of chaos – so I lost the chance to pass the last attempt and reach the final.

This weekend we didn’t have the chance to work on a wet track, so the sprint turned out to be difficult for everyone – we had to adapt to new conditions. I had a bad start, which caused a lot of wheelspin, and then the center tires started to deteriorate badly. Probably should have changed tires a lap earlier. I had good pace after that but got stuck behind Logan Sargent who was fast on the straights.

The team and I are working together and trying to squeeze the maximum out, but this weekend the car just doesn’t have enough speed.