Stroll: Tsunoda is ‘off the pace’ and ‘super desperate’

Lance Stroll says Yuki Tsunoda’s attempted pass for P12 at the Sao Paulo GP was “super desperate” and “way too optimistic”.

Having opted to start the Interlagos race on the soft tyres, the only driver to do so, Tsunoda needed to make up positions while he had the tyre advantage.

Up from 15th to 13th, the Japanese driver tried to overtake Stroll up the inside at the start of the Senna S.

The two collided with both cars shedding bodywork, including Tsunoda’s front wing, which necessitated a Safety Car.

Strollsays it was an “optimistic” lunge from a “super desperate” driver.

“I think he’s off the pace,” the Aston Martin drivertold the official F1 website, “and he was super desperate to make a move.

“He was too far back, I don’t know what he was doing.

“I guess he is just desperate, just way too optimistic.”

Stroll tried to continue but eventually retired his AMR21 as a result of the crash damage.

“It was getting worse,” he explained. “Pieces were just falling off the car and we were going backwards.”

LAP 6/71 – SAFETY CAR

We're behind the Safety Car, with debris being cleared from the track after Yuki Tsunoda loses part of his front wing#BrazilGP#F1pic.twitter.com/WPX31JtGtg

— Formula 1 (@F1)November 14, 2021

Tsunoda, however, feels the move was a “risky” one but that it would have been fine if only Stroll had looked in his mirrors and seen him coming.

“My collision with Lance, he was not looking in his back mirror,” said the AlphaTauri rookie.

“He just drove a normal line… it was a risky move but I didn’t have a lock up in the first bit and then I had a little bit because I realised he wasn’t looking at all.

“It was a shame, that move was there, it was fine.

“It is a shame but I’ll have to come back stronger the next race.

As for his penalty, Tsunoda felt 10-seconds was “ridiculous”.

“A 10-second penalty… I mean five-seconds would have been harsh but still okay,” he said.

“But 10 seconds was ridiculous.”

He finished the grand prix in 15th place,a lap down on race winner Lewis Hamilton, and was later also handed two penalty points on his Super Licence by the stewards.

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