Yuki Tsunoda’s F1 profession is “hanging by a thread” following a troublesome Austrian Grand Prix.
Tsunoda completed sixteenth and final of the categorized finishers in Sunday’s race on the Pink Bull Ring.
The Japanese driver was the one driver to be lapped twice on a torrid day for Pink Bull.
Tsunoda additionally felt the brunt of F1’s stewards, selecting up a 10-second time penalty for colliding with Alpine’s Franco Colapinto.
Like his predecessor, Liam Lawson, Tsunoda has struggled to become familiar with the RB21.
Tsunoda’s finest outcome since becoming a member of Pink Bull was ninth in Bahrain, and following the Austrian GP, he now sits behind Lawson within the drivers’ standings.
The weekend was one to overlook for Pink Bull.
Max Verstappen suffered his first DNF of the yr after he was taken out of the race by Kimi Antonelli on the opening lap.
In consequence, Pink Bull boss Christian Horner has declared that they’re not interested by this yr’s world championship.
Verstappen had hoped to develop into simply the second driver in F1 historical past to win 5 straight drivers’ titles.
Tsunoda’s F1 future unsure
In accordance with respected BBC F1 journalist Andrew Benson, Tsunoda’s profession is in jeopardy.
Whereas it’s unlikely Tsunoda’s fast future at Pink Bull is underneath risk, his possibilities of staying on for subsequent yr look very slim.
Tsunoda was neglected initially by Pink Bull as they opted for Lawson as an alternative.
Talking after the race in Austria on the BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast, Benson expressed doubts over whether or not Tsunoda would stay on the grid, even outdoors the Pink Bull secure.
“I feel we should always say one thing about Tsunoda, he had a horrible, horrible day,” Benson mentioned.
“Verstappen, out of the primary lap, third nook, Pink Bull wanted Tsunoda to have a robust race. OK, he had a nasty qualifying; he was really solely two-tenths off Verstappen in Q1, however that was the distinction between seventh place and 18th, I feel it was.
“However he drove like he’d been in Formulation 1 for 5 minutes, not 5 years.
“He had two collisions, and the second that he acquired a 10-second penalty for with Franco Colapinto was very clumsy and ended up ending final.
“It is a man whose Formulation 1 profession is hanging by a thread in the intervening time, and it doesn’t seem like to me that he’s going to hold on past the tip of this yr.”
