Having spent the majority of the season as four-time world champion Max Verstappen’s team-mate, Tsunoda concluded that the Dutchman is the “best driver on the grid.”
Having struggled with the balance of his car on the opening two days of the Qatar Grand Prix, reigning champion Max Verstappen got a great getaway and pipped championship leader Lando Norris into Turn 1.
The Dutchman elected to pit under the early safety car period which meant that he completed his first mandatory pit stop while his McLaren rivals stayed out.
After Mclaren drivers also completed their two mandatory stops, Verstappen inherited the lead, and he found so much pace during his last stint that Oscar Piastri was unable to challenge him despite being on fresher tyres.
As such, the Dutchman secured his seventh victory of the season and jumped up to second in the Championship which means that he is still in the running for the title ahead of this weekend’s season finale in Abu Dhabi.
His team-mate Yuki Tsunoda endured a difficult qualifying session, but he managed to make up some positions during the first round of pit stops. Although the Japanese driver looked set to finish outside the points-paying positions, he inherited tenth place due to Isack Hadjar’s late puncture.
Reflecting on his last race with Red Bull, Tsunoda added: “I really tried my absolute best to score points [last Sunday], and I think there could have been potential to do so, but the penalty made it tricky.
“We opted for a different strategy, and we were running well until the battle with Lando. I tried to hold him up, but he was pretty fast, and then I ended up with a frustrating penalty.
“Once I came out for the second stint, it was really challenging to pass. I can look back on this year knowing that I gave it everything until the end. There were lots of times this season where I lacked that bit of luck you sometimes need to make the difference, but that’s racing.
“A big congratulations to Lando—he has been superb all year and drove a solid race tonight to win his first title. Also, congratulations to Max for his victory and an amazing season.
Having spent the majority of the season as Verstappen’s team-mate, Tsunoda concluded that the Dutchman is the “best driver on the grid.”
“Between himself and the Team, they put together a brilliant effort to challenge until the very end and just missed out. He is the best driver on the grid, seeing him work and extract everything that he does is, just shows how good he is, and he has the mentality to go with it, it’s very inspiring to see.
“I’d like to say thank you to the engineers, mechanics, and the entire Team for this season, and I’ll still be around next season, so it’s not a proper goodbye,” Tsunoda concluded.