On Saturday, Yuki Tsunoda was deemed the culprit by Red Bull after their ‘poor’ qualifying results. But after the race in which both Red Bull drivers finished on the podium, they changed their tone.

Red Bull’s advisor, Helmut Marko, came out in defence of the young Japanese driver after the race.

“Yuki did nothing wrong [yesterday]. His race engineer should have warned him earlier,” Marko said to Sky Germany.

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Helmut Marko to Sky Germany: "Yuki did nothing wrong [yesterday]. His race engineer should have warned him earlier." Marko also praises Pierre for his start/race. #MexicoGP

9:18 PM · Nov 7, 2021

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This should come as a relief to the AlphaTauri driver, whose first lap crash ended his race in which his teammate finished an impressive P4.

The incident which made Red Bull surround Yuki Tsunoda

In the final few seconds of Q3, Yuki Tsunoda got out of Sergio Perez’s way as he was instructed by his race engineer. But Tsunoda’s sudden move resulted in Perez going off track just as he was beginning his flying lap.

Max Verstappen, who was also close behind, backed off and the two Red Bull drivers finished in P3 & P4 respectively, whereas their German rivals locked out the front row.

This resulted in Max Verstappen lashing out on his radio.

Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner also made a remark about how they got Tsunoda’d. This established that Red Bull were putting it on the 20-year-old driver of their sister team.

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🗣️ “I think we got Tsunoda’d” Christian Horner on the end of Q3 and Mercedes' pace after losing out to their rivals in #MexicoGP qualifying. #SkyF1 | #F1

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11:15 PM · Nov 6, 2021

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Sunday’s result unfortunate and a relief for Tsunoda?

Marko’s comments after his team’s utterly dominant performance in Mexico can be interpreted in two ways.

Either the team from Milton Keynes realized Tsunoda wasn’t actually responsible for what happened, but it was just a mixup in communication.

Or the ‘spectacular’ result and the atmosphere in Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez post chequered flag made Red Bull forgo the matters of yesterday.

Whatever the case may be, Tsunoda is taking away an invaluable experience from Mexico; at Red Bull, things can change quickly, both for better or worse.

Also Read: Faster Than Mick Schumacher: Marko Defends Decision to Give Yuki Tsunoda F1 Seat